The Quests of Maradil
by Saric the Slayer
Summary: This story takes place in an unknown land parallel to Middle Earth, a place that has remained hidden ever since the time of the Valar. It follows Maradil and his friends on their many quests which always seem to lead to more than they expected. Eventually they learn there is more going on than they originally thought and that its somehow connected to an ancient and mysterious evil.
1. Introduction

**This is the fan fiction story of the Lord of the Rings that I've come up with from an idea. I had developed this fan fiction over the years and since then it has changed and evolved much. To begin, if you haven't read the Silmarillion, or at least know what it's about, the beginning of the story won't make much sense because it is during the time of the Silmarillion that the story starts. **

**To clear things up, this story takes place in a land different than Middle Earth; in it's sister landmass, but it is still on the same plane of existence as it in Arda. As the story progresses, at first it will explain the origin of the land and the characters, sort of informative like the Silmarillion, and then it will move on to the story of the group of heroes and will be told from their point of view. It's a long story and will cover a lot of things; maybe I'll even need to make more than one. Enjoy the story, and one more thing, I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**


	2. The History of Lower Earth

** The beginning may be a bit confusing at first, but it becomes clearer as it progresses. This is stuff in the story I have to explain or the rest of the story won't make sense. I need to establish the background of the story and the land where it take place first. I have now greatly changed and edited this chapter, so if you've read it before, you should probably reread it now. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>In the time when the Valar were shaping the world, there was a lesser known Ainur known as Drom. He usually lived apart from all of the other Ainur and crafted many strange and wondrous things. He and some of the other Ainur had shaped this new land, but the Ainur did not seem pleased and thought that they could have done even better. The Valar deemed this land Lower Earth, not believing it to be as beautiful or worthy as Middle Earth. The name Lower Earth signified that it was "less than Middle Earth" or "not as great as Middle Earth".<p>

At one point, a new race came about as a branch of the Elven race. At first people called them the Grey Orcs, mistaking them for Orcs, but in fact, they looked nothing like Orcs. The Grey Orcs appeared to have a human form and appearance, but they had ashen gray or pale skin, many people referred to them as Ghosts because of their appearance, but they had an Elvish beauty and appearance to them that most failed to see. Drom sent them away to Lower Earth by the orders of the Valar, they seeming to favor the Elves more. These beings known as the Grey Orcs called themselves the Cauladir, (pronounced cull-a-dear). Soon, others also referred to them as the Cauladir, but for the most part they were known as, the Grey Orcs.

Eventually, Morgoth learned of Lower Earth's existence and became jealous of what Drom and the other Ainur had created. Morgoth sent his evil and fell creatures to Lower Earth, including the Orcs, in an attempt to defile it and corrupt it to his will. When the Valar learned of this, they fought against Morgoth until he was chased away from Lower Earth. They then decided that in order to kept it safe and out of Morgoth's reach, they had to hide it. They hid Lower Earth away in a part of the Great Ocean so that nobody would be able to find it, and on that land they made time move at a faster pace and greatly distorted it, making it very hard for it to be found by normal means.

Lower Earth was saved from Morgoth, but his creatures remained on that land leaving the Grey Orcs alone on Lower Earth, the Valar entrusting them to be able to defend it from the corrupting influence of Morgoth's creatures. After that, Drom and the other Valar left to continue fighting Morgoth. To the mortals of the world, Drom was completely absent from all recorded history, seemingly disappearing from history itself. Most people of Lower Earth believed that Drom never even existed and said that it was just a child's bedtime story. From then on, Lower Earth was known as the sister landmass to Middle Earth; with only very few people in Middle Earth knowing of its existence, such as the White Council, but they decided that it was best to keep it a secret, lest Sauron, the great enemy, learn of its existence as Morgoth had done before him.

After the imprisonment of Morgoth by the other Valar, the Grey Orcs on Lower Earth were continuing to fight the creatures of Morgoth. The orcs no longer served their evil master, but themselves, and were now free to do whatever they pleased. The orcs split off into many different races and tribes like the goblins, hobgoblins, the fierce Terak-hai, (pronounced terra-kai), and the giant Barak-hai (pronounced bar-uh-kai). Some tribes of orcs chose not to concern themselves with the affairs of other races and lived simple hunter/gatherer lifestyles. Aside from the orcs, many other fouler things were left on Lower Earth by Morgoth such as: trolls, demons, dragons, undead creatures, and many others, but worst of all was the Necralum, (it will be explained what they are later). These evil creatures all scattered to the various parts of Lower Earth and hid themselves there. The Grey Orcs mainly did not go and explore the rest of Lower Earth, staying in one land in Lower Earth and calling it Uracania, but some did spread out to other places.

Lower Earth had many different lands, with varied regions and climates. To the south, there was the land of Rakatu, which consisted mostly of jungles, and next to that was Uracania with its dense forests and the mountainous land of Nazoth, which resided by the sea. Next to that was the desert land of Arull, and south of Arull lay the marsh land of Rudathar, where the trolls resided. Beneath that was the volcanic wasteland of Caridor, which was mostly inhabited by dragons and many demons of all sorts.

Back to Rakatu, to the north of it lay the unknown lands of Suroth, which had been reduced to a wasteland during fighting with Morgoth and later the ancient war with the Necralum. Next to Suroth lay a large swampland and to the east of that was the desert land of Miridia, with its white sands. East of Miridia was another desert land called Harastan, and next to that was Terakia, a land of prairies and grasslands, which was mostly inhabited by the orcs. Heading further east, there were the dark lands of Morteras. They were called so because the sun never shone there, making Morteras have an eternal night, leaving many too afraid to go there, and to wonder what secrets it may hide. Even though it was dark, that did not necessarily mean it was a wasteland, but many plants did not grow there due to the lack of sunlight.

Back to Suroth, north of it lay Kunrude, with its strange steppes and highlands, and east of Kunrude lay the forest land of Bornodir, where a council of Wizards had made their enclave, their true purpose a mystery. North of Kunrude was a long mountain range, which led to the cold and snowy lands of Palator. North of Palator lay the frozen northern sea, which was impossible to cross, but over that sea was the North Pole and over and down from there lay the beginning of Forodwaith, which was the very north of Middle Earth, (that's just to give you an idea where Lower Earth is relative to Middle Earth).

Even though almost nobody outside of Lower Earth knew of its existence, other races eventually found it by mistake, in some way or the other and settled there. The first people that came upon Lower Earth was a large group of dwarves and men, (referred to as humans) who had arrived from the north of Lower Earth after they had traveled north from Forodwaith in Middle Earth on an exploration journey and crossed over an ice bridge they had found there. Many in Middle Earth believed that they had perished on their journey to the far north. After they had arrived in Lower Earth, they that realized ice bridge had broken and melted away behind them and they were now stuck there. So in Lower Earth they settled and the men with them spread throughout the northern lands.

The dwarves settled in the cold land of Palator, which suited their preferences nicely. In Palator they built a city in the mountains which they called Mandagrim and mined for ore in the mountains. Some of them traveled south to Nazoth where they built settlements along the sea and they became a distinctive group known as the sea dwarves, because of their love for sailing, (they are supposed to be like Vikings). Some of the dwarves in Nazoth traveled east and built a city on the edge of Caridor called Asgrothir, where a treasure was said to be hidden, but it was raided by the Terak-kai orcs and abandoned, and the treasure disappearing as well. The dwarves of Lower Earth eventually came across the Grey Orcs, and seeing as they meant them no harm, they became allies, sharing a common enemy, the orcs who would often raid them. The two groups soon learned they had a lot of similarities, one of them being that they both loved crafting and were very good at it and they eventually started trading with each other.

Elves also arrived in Lower Earth, but some of these elves were different. These other elves were part a group of elves that had been exiled and stripped of their immortality as punishment for a crime against the Valar long ago. Even though they were mortal, they still could live for a very long time, and spread out to many different parts of Lower Earth. Most settled in the lands to the east, and some traveled to the desert land of Arull, where they settled and became known as the Desert Elves. Another group settled in the mountains near Palator and lived in their enclave of Girithia. This group of elves became known as the Ice Elves, but they were often misunderstood by many people because of their isolated and mysterious nature.

The Elves and the Grey Orcs for the most part did not generally like each other much at first, but this eventually faded as each became more tolerant of the other. Most people in Lower Earth did not generally trust the Elves descended from the outcast elves and some even feared them. This was caused by the Necralum and the evil they had caused throughout Lower Earth.

Eventually the elves, since they were now free from the pains of immortality, intermingled with the race of men in Lower Earth and eventually created a new race, the Maldir, (pronounced maul-dear), more commonly known to many as Melves. The Melves had the characteristics of both races, and they lived for hundreds of years. Most settled in Bornodir or Rakatu. Eventually some of the immortal Elves from other lands also discovered Lower Earth and mostly settled in Bornodir and other forested lands. They became acquainted with the land and locals, becoming pillars of knowledge and wisdom, many people seeing that these elves could be trusted. Many of the Melves went to live with the elves at their enclaves in Bornodir.

The race of Men were among the most numerous of the races in Lower Earth and many different groups of them had arrived in Lower Earth at different times. Aside from the ones that had arrived with the dwarves from the north and spread out, men from the lands of Rhun and Harad in Middle Earth had sailed to Lower Earth and settled there, wanting to escape the corruption that was taking hold of their homelands. The men from Harad settled in the desert lands of Harastan and Miridia, while the men from Rhun settled in the land of Kunrude, choosing those places because they were most similar to their homelands.

After the Valar had sunk the island kingdom of Numenore, some of the survivors had fled and sailed away, wanting to hide themselves from the Valar and their shame. They then came across Lower Earth and settled in the southern jungle land of Rakatu where they built a small kingdom and started a line of kings there; these men were distantly related to Elendil. These men then called themselves the Allanthir, but mostly the Fallen Ones because of what they had done and wanted badly to redeem themselves. They eventually met the Grey Orcs, who believed they could be redeemed, and became allies with them. They joined forces with them and the dwarves and elves of Lower Earth in order fight back against the ancient evil of the Necralum and save their new home.

On the matter of the wizards in Bornodir; after the Valar had left, they had later sent three Istari to watch over and guide Lower Earth, not wanting to completely abandon a land that the Ainur had created. Not much is known about these three wizards, and the descriptions known about them were very vague. One was known as a wizard of silver, who had served the Valar Mandos, otherwise known as Irmo. Another was known as a wizard of gold, who had served the Valier Vaire, who was the spouse of Mandos. The last was known as a wizard of red, who had served the Valar Tulkas. What these colors of silver, gold, and red meant was unknown; they could refer to the color of their hair, the color of the robes they wore, or perhaps something else entirely.

When the three wizards arrived in Lower Earth, they separated and often traveled from place to place like nomads. They had even been to places other than Lower Earth and Valinor, such as Middle Earth. The three of them would sometimes meet to discuss many things as old friends would, but they most often met when things were dire. They were known to the five other Istari that had been sent to Middle Earth and were old friends with them as well. Where the three of them resided in Lower Earth and where they could be found was unknown to many.

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><p>The most evil race to exist in Lower Earth was the Necralum. They went by many names: Necralum, Darak, Darak Un'Dra, and the Dark Ones. Many people feared them, even the orcs, and avoided speaking of them, some fearing that even a stray thought might draw them near. It started near the beginning of Lower Earth's creation, when Morgoth was spreading his evil throughout Lower Earth. There was once a branch of elves known as the Darak who were related to the group of elves that later came to Lower Earth. The Darak had been stripped off their immortality and cast out of Valinor, along with all of the other elves who had been involved with them. Those of the elves who were related them fled and found Lower Earth, deeply resenting the Darak.<p>

The Darak had then cried out in sorrow and anguish over loosing their immortality. Morgoth heard their cries of torment and decided to answer it. In exchange for the promise of their loyalty, he gave them the powers of the Maiar along with returning their immortality, but it came with a high price. It rotted away their flesh and turned them into undead skeletal wraiths. These creatures, the Necralum, were shrouded in black, shadowy cloaks that covered their bones and they were twisted into fell and evil forms. They had obtained power, and had gotten back their immortality, but at the cost of never again having a fair or beautiful form. The Necralum, now serving their new master, went throughout the land of Lower Earth causing chaos and destroying much their path. Many thought they were monsters, not understanding where they had come from.

Among the things they did, they could use necromancy to create undead soldiers, and they mastered many crafts such as smithing and forging, creating strong weapons and armor for themselves. The architecture of the structures the Necralum built had a strong resemblance to Numenore stonework with its sharp, black, stone-like appearance. The Necralum also favored spiral staircases and put them in many of their buildings. The Necralum gathered together the evil creatures of Morgoth in Lower Earth and enslaved many people, eventually controlling nearly the entire eastern half of Lower Earth. They were now continuing on the work of Morgoth and diligently followed his orders in conquering Lower Earth. Then, through the efforts of the three wizards, the good races of Lower Earth were gathered together. The Allanthir and the Grey Orcs banded together with the dwarves and elves and they bravely began to fight against the corruption of the Darak.

Most did not trust the mortal Elves because the Necralum were once elves themselves. This fear was made greater by the fact that the Necralum could shape-shift and temporarily change their form; changing from their evil and undead appearance and appearing as their original, beautiful elvish forms, deceiving many people. Even though they were once elves, ironically, most of the Necralum hated the Elves, believing them to be weak and that the Darak had advanced to a level beyond them. Though they were corrupted, they still felt a connection to the land and did not attempt to corrupt and defile it as Morgoth would have, though they commonly chose to live in dark, bleak, and wasted lands.

Other people could also be transformed into Necralum, but this happened most often with the race of Men, who were often weak willed and and were less resistant to corruption. If a person had suffered in life or had lived an evil life, when they die, the Necralum would be drawn to them. This happened because the Necralum had a habit of being drawn to wherever there was evil and suffering, and would take a hold of their soul and turn them into an undead creature similar to the Necralum, though they were not as powerful as the older, elvish ones, and were also easier to defeat. These lesser Necralum could also change their form to appear as they once had as humans, the same way how the other Necralum could appear as their original Elvish forms. Many of the race of men were also lured by the lies of the Darak and were turned into Necralum themselves, who by using their dark magic could transform them into one of them. The Necralum also transformed many people unwillingly in order to increase their numbers. As a result, many soldiers would burn the bodies of their fallen comrades so that the Necralum would not drag them away to an unknown fate.

Many of the Necralum had lost their memories of their previous lives and could not remember many things, some could not even remember what gender they were, it now being impossible to tell because they were nothing but bones and they all looked the same in appearance as their undead forms. The Necralum were eventually beaten back and fled to Morteras and the people enslaved by them were now free. The Necralum were defeated, but their evil influence had left a great impact on Lower Earth.

They had left behind many ancient ruins and buildings, some still inhabited by their undead soldiers and monsters they had created through necromancy and dark magic. In Kunrude, they had built the great Kunrude Fortress and the dungeons beneath it. The men of Kunrude found inside of it many books on Darak crafting techniques and became experts in weapon and armor making, rivaling even that of the dwarves. Necralum weapons were known for being highly sought after and were very powerful, the Darak being known for their expert crafting skills. The things they crafted resembled that of Elves, but with a darker and more evil appearance and feel to it. Even though they were now evil creatures, they still retained their ability to make beautiful works of crafting. Weapons of elvish make, though they were effective at killing many fell and evil things, did not seem to have as much of an effect on the Necralum, possibly because they were once Elves and would be familiar with the craft of those weapons.

In the deserts of Harastan, the Necralum left behind the now lost ancient city of Zeria. They also left behind many other ancient buildings scattered throughout Lower Earth. In Suroth, long after the Necralum were defeated, there was once an ancient stronghold of dwarves known as Nagrond, but they were all wiped out by an unknown force, many believing it to be the Necralum who did it. Their suspicions were right, it had been taken over by the Necralum and from then on was known as the Dead Halls and ever since then, many people feared to go near that place. The Dead Halls were ruled by a powerful Necralum lord and many warriors tried to face him in battle to kill him, thinking to end his evil influence, but they all fell to his blade.

The Necralum went into hiding in many dark places, like Suroth, which had become a wasteland during the war, but it used to be a beautiful land where Elves had once lived. Now no Elves remained, all of them had been slaughtered by the Darak during the war and their land was ravaged by their evil. Those few Elves that survived the carnage in Suroth fled to Bornodir and the other places of Lower Earth where Elves lived, where they would find a safe haven. Other than Suroth, the Necralum also went into hiding in their new city, hidden beneath the ancient tombs and catacombs of Morteras, the Dark Lands. In their city resided the Necralum King, who had taken over after the old Necralum king was killed in the war. Both Suroth and Morteras stood on opposite horizontal ends of Lower Earth.

On the subject of the language of the Necralum; few people had ever heard it spoken, and those people that had heard it claimed that it sounded slightly unpleasant, with its harsh, whispered, and soft-spoken tone. The language spoken by the Necralum originated as a form of the Quenya language that had originally been spoken by the Darak when they were elves. After becoming the Necralum, their language became more corrupted and twisted and it was greatly changed from its original form. Many of the words in the Necralum language still sounded very similar to words in Quenya, and someone who was able speak one of the various languges of the elves could possibly understand some of what was being said.

Aside from their own language, many of the Necralum were able to speak the Common Speech and the Necralum that came from races other than the original elvish ones all could speak their original languges. Many of the ruins and structures left behind by the Necralum actually had names in two different languges. Since their names in the Necralum language were often very hard to pronounce for many people, they were often given a second dwarvish name. One such example was the Dead Halls, which instead of being called by its Necralum name, was referred to by many using its dwarvish name, Nagrond.

Morgoth had intended the Necralum to be the pure embodiments of evil, and they were drawn to many places where evil was strong, being unable to resist the call of darkness. It was believed that all the Necralum had died off in Morteras, but they had merely gone into hiding, planning their return, though it was now unlikely due to how few their numbers had become. The many evil creatures of Morgoth that had served the Necralum, some out of fear, fled to the dark corners of Lower Earth where they could not be bothered and hid themselves. The wizards had made sure that the Necralum would never again be a major player among the evil in Lower Earth and that they could never regain their former power. Eventually, the Necralum were almost completely forgotten as time moved on and the people who had heard about the Necralum thought that it was nothing more than a myth. Lower Earth was now finally at peace, just as the Valar had intended it.

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><p><strong>Now I have the background of the story established. The Necralum will not have a major role in the story now, which takes place during the present day of Lower Earth, which will follow the journey of the heroes, but some of the Necralum will appear throughout it and the heroes will encounter and come across some of the ancient buildings of the Necralum. As of now, the Necralum will not be the main villains of the story, though some of them will serve the main villain. <strong>

**T**he real story begins in the next chapter, which starts off in the story's current time period. It will follow Maradil, who is part of the half elf and half human race known as the Maldir. For now in the story, it will focus on the exploits and adventures of Maradil and his friends. There are many other evil things lurking in Lower Earth from ages long past, some which Maradil will encounter along the way. **All of your comments, suggestions, and ideas are welcome.**


	3. The First Step of the Journey

**I finally got my thoughts and ideas together to write this new chapter. This is where the real story begins, with the main character Maradil. This chapter will tell about some of his background and the beginning of his journey. In the story, sometimes when I refer to someone as a man or woman I'm referring to their gender, not their race. In some instances in the story, the race of Men will be referred to as humans to avoid confusion. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>It was a seemingly ordinary morning in the Elven enclave of Aradale, in the forested land of Bornodir. Maradil was just getting up out of bed. After he got out of bed he went to do what he usually did when he got up. Maradil was a Maldir, a race of half elf and half human beings, which some people called Melves. Most of the Maldir in Lower Earth lived with the elves of Bornodir, but a few were scattered in various places throughout Lower Earth. The Maldir were similar to the elves; they embraced the culture of the elves and had similar ideals, but acted more like humans, but they were not prone to be greedy or corrupt like them. The Maldir were also known for their very long life-spans, living over many centuries. Maradil was a slender-looking man with emerald-green eyes and long black hair tied into a ponytail; most of the Maldir were known for having night-black hair. Today was going to be an important day for him. He would be beginning a journey to a neighboring land as part of a task he had been given. He was surprised that they had even considered him for it. Here at the enclave of Aradale, Maradil was known for having somewhat of a bad reputation.<p>

When he was a baby, Maradil's parents had died from a plague. Since then, he had been raised by two adoptive parents. These two were not spouses though; they were two separate people he had seen as parents. His adoptive mother Awenrith had raised him since he was a baby until about when he was a teenager. Maradil had been very attached to her and saw her as his real mother, even referring to her as such. Awenrith was known for being very attractive and had raised her adopted son with love. Then one day she unexpectedly disappeared. She had left to somewhere without even telling Maradil and nobody seemed to know where she had gone. Maradil greatly missed Awenrith and tried to find someone else.

Eventually her presence had faded out of the memories of most of the people at the enclave and Maradil found another parent, Auril. Auril became like a father to Maradil and he adopted him as his son. Auril taught Maradil many skills and many things necessary for a man to know to survive in the world. Then one day when Maradil was a young man himself, Auril too had disappeared, gone to an unknown place like Awenrith. Maradil had always wanted Awenrith and Auril to meet, seeing as they had similar personalities, but he noticed that they had always never seemed to be in the same place at the same time, no matter what. He also noticed that they looked similar and had the same green eyes, wondering if they were related. For the first time Maradil began to feel sadness. But Maradil still had one person left, his older brother Haladir, whom he had looked up to and grown up with.

Eventually Haladir had been sent off to battle to defend Bornodir against one of the raging orc hordes from Terakia, which lay to the far east of Bornodir. He didn't come back and Maradil was told that he had been killed in battle, the person who told him had witnessed it. The brother that Maradil had loved and cherished was now gone, as was the last person that he had cared about. His personality began to change, he no longer found peace in all the simple things in life, instead choosing to reject them and showed great apathy, aloofness, and uncaring towards things like love, happiness, and family. It actually made him feel better letting go of emotions like that; it made him feel free, not being chained down by anything. But Maradil was not completely emotionless, he could feel things like joy, pride, affection and attachment, but never love.

Maradil had made very few friends throughout the years; he had met some people who were similar to him and sympathized with him. His two friends would be coming with him on his journey. First he went to go see one of them, Darzul. Darzul was a Cauladir, or as some people called them, Grey Orcs. But they looked nothing like orcs, instead they looked more like elves or humans, but with a light-grayish skin tone. Similar to the Maldir, they too had long life spans like theirs. Darzul had come from a small kingdom near the land of Uracania in the distant south, which was the land where most of the Cauladir came from. His father Varil, had been the king of a small and distant kingdom near Uracania.

One day the inevitable happened; the tiny kingdom was invaded by Terak-hai orcs, a viscous sub-race of orcs that destroyed everything in their path, originating from the land of Terakia. They stormed throughout the town and slaughtered many. His father Varil fell in battle trying to defend the castle and his family and they never got a chance to recover his body. Darzul, being a child at the time, fled with his mother and the rest of his family, along with all of the surviving Cauladir from the town. Ever since that day, Darzul had a deep hatred for the Terak-hai orcs and promised that he would kill them wherever he saw them. After fleeing, they eventually ended up in the enclave of Aradale. Not only Elves and Maldir lived in Aradale, but also refugees from many different lands who had lost their homes for various reasons and the elves accepted them with kindness. There as a child Darzul met Maradil and the two quickly formed a friendship, having been through similar events and experiencing similar losses.

"Good morning Darzul." Maradil said to him. "Today's when we leave on another adventure."

"Yeah." Darzul responded back. "I can't wait."

"By the way, where's Barin?" Maradil asked in return.

"He's probably still rolling around in bed."

"At this time? Doesn't he know that we have to leave in a few hours?"

"I guess we'd better go wake him up or he'll get mad at us for not giving him time to prepare."

"Alright, let's go."

The second of Maradil's two friends was Barin the Dwarf. Barin was descended from a line of dwarves that had escaped the destruction of the great dwarven city Asgrothir by the Terak-kai about a thousand years ago. Asgrothir had been located in the far south near Nazoth and Uracania. His family had gone to the coastal region of Nazoth and there he had grown up with the Sea Dwarves, dwarves who loved sailing and fishing, as well as the usual things a dwarf loved. Since he had been raised alongside the Sea Dwarves, he had learned many skills such as sailing, fishing, navigating, and almost anything involving the sea. Barin had moved away from Nazoth in search of adventure and had ended up in Aradale. He met Maradil and Darzul and befriended them, telling them tales of how he had gone on adventures, which fascinated them and made them a bit jealous that he had gone on adventures at the same young age as them.

They grew up together until they were adults. Barin was known for being the humorous one of the group and often joked when the mood was right. Barin began to have a habit of sometimes drinking too much, which led to him doing very stupid and dangerous things. There was one unforgettable incident at the wedding feast for a lord's daughter, where Barin had done something incredibly foolish. He had gotten into a drinking contest and began to drink ale from the ale pump of the keg while laying down. He then became a party animal and got to thinking when he saw the bonfire. He wondered what would happen if he were to fart on the large bonfire?

So he did it, and instead of a small explosion, it created a large fireball that came into contact with one of the curtains hanging from the window. The curtains caught fire and quickly the whole roof made of wood was on fire. The feast hall had burned down, but fortunately nobody was hurt. But ever since that day many people were angry with Barin, but the lord had forgiven him since he had been drunk, and the lord also had a habit of drinking and had once done something similar. People became very careful to make sure that they did not give Barin too much beer or ale, not wanting something like that to happen again. Since then, the bards sung of that day in the tale of Barin's Blunder. Barin then learned to drink in moderation and the times when he was drunk decreased, but nevertheless he still loved beer, ale, or any kind of alcoholic drink. From then on, Maradil and Darzul jokingly gave Barin the title of Barin the Blunderous.

"There you are Barin." said Maradil seeing Barin walking down the hallway. "Come on, we're going to be late."

"What, you think I've forgotten? said the dwarf. "You know that I love adventuring just as much as you two. I wouldn't miss this for anything."

"Well then, lets start packing and make preparations." said Darzul.

The expression on Maradil's face often looked like one of sadness, but that was not the truth. He was actually joyful, fun-loving, reckless, and sometimes mischievous on the inside. The one thing that he, Darzul, and Barin loved most of all was adventure; they just couldn't get enough of it. When one adventure ended Maradil was afraid of going back to idleness, and that made him depressed. When the fun of it had ended and there was nothing left to do, that's when he felt true sadness. But that was never a problem because he and his two friends were always going on adventures to many places all over Lower Earth; he lived for adventure. But their adventures would often get them into trouble and often caused trouble for the people of Aradale, on top of them screwing things up as well.

Maradil had gotten a bad reputation mostly from how he usually screwed things up or failed the tasks the elf leaders had given him. Maradil also had a bad habit of either losing or breaking his weapons, which seemed to have spread to Darzul and Barin as well. This was the reason why the elf smiths refused to make Maradil any weapons. He would go through so many weapons, so Maradil would mostly just use what he found or picked up during his adventures, or what he, although crudely, made himself. Maradil and his friends were also very skilled in combat, Maradil having learned how to fight with a sword from his brother Haladir, who had been a soldier before he had died. Maradil preferred to sometimes wield two weapons, one in each hand, while Darzul often preferred two handed weapons, mostly a spear, and Barin often wielded an axe and his shield. They had also learned many survival skills and had the skills of hunters as well.

They had finished packing and preparing and were heading towards the gates of Aradale where they were to meet the elf leaders who would inform them of their task and send them off. They reached the gate in a matter of minutes and there they saw the elf leaders and a few of the people Maradil, Darzul, and Barin were commonly acquainted with. Also there was the wizard Caron the Silver, who was the head of a wizard council that resided in Aradale. That council also had a small number of apprentices, who they trained. But they were very few and hard to come by and the wizards only taught those who they thought were worthy. Caron had been like a grandfather figure to Maradil and had told him and his friends many stories when they were children. Caron had many old friends throughout Lower Earth and was often well informed about many things. Caron had been to many far away places, even some they had never heard of before. Maradil had tried to learn some of the magical arts from Caron, but he had found it too complicated and preferred to use melee weapons instead.

The elf leaders informed them of what they were being sent to do. The land of Kunrude (pronounced Cune-rude) to the east had been at war with a separatist faction within itself. The land of Kunrude was just to the west of Bornodir, and that was the direction that Maradil and his friends would head. He and his friends would travel west until they got out of Bornodir and through the land of Kunrude until they reached Nasatra, the main city of the Kingdom of Kunrude, and where their king lived. Once there, they would meet him and discuss a way to end the war between them and the separatist faction within Kunrude that wants to take control.

The separatist forces in Kunrude are led by a tyrannical warlock known as Vanthar the Black. Vanthar the Black's stronghold was in an old fortress in Kunrude that was well defended, and under him he had an army of men who had joined his cause. Vanthar seemed like just the typical kind of tyrant ruler that one would usually see, but this one wielded great power. The journey through Kunrude would most likely take a while. Kunrude was a vast land filled with hills, rivers, steppes, deserts, plains, and highlands that seemed to stretch on for miles. Most of the inhabitants lived nearer to the western part of Kunrude, closer to the sea.

"Oh, I forgot,_ those_ two are coming." Barin said, gesturing towards the two people closest to the gate.

Much to the annoyance of Maradil and his friends, two representatives were being sent with them on their journey. Maradil had already briefly met them a few days ago. One was a human named Jeredia, who was a man from the desert land of Harastan in the far east, and whose ruler there was a distant ally of the King of Kunrude. The second representative joining them was an elf named Pathil. It was never stated where Pathil was from, only that he was from somewhere far in the south-east. This elf though had something mysterious and suspicious about him. Maradil had a knack for sensing these sort of things from people. He wasn't sure if he should trust the elf; almost nothing was known about him and he was always off somewhere where there was nobody around. The elf also almost never showed any emotions, which made him very hard the read, though it was possible he was just hiding them. Jeredia and Pathil then joined them, they were preparing to set out.

The wizard Caron the Silver walked up to Maradil. "Here, take this kit of potions and medicines. I know how you three are always reckless so I thought to make these for you." Caron handed the kit to Maradil and he put it in one of his bags. Maradil, Darzul, and Barin each seemed to have brought along five sags or bags with them that they kept in their backpacks. About two and one half of those bags they each had brought with them were filled with the supplies they had packed. All the rest of the bags, Maradil had said was for _"stuff"_. Though what kind of _"stuff"_ Caron could only imagine; they would often bring back all sorts of things from their adventures.

"Also," Caron whispered to Maradil, "I'm a bit suspicious about that elf Pathil. You probably shouldn't trust him too much. He's one of those elves from the lands far to the east. The elves there are a bit mysterious and strange and not much is known about them. I've spoken with Jeredia and he seems to share my suspicion. I'm pretty sure you can trust Jeredia however. He seems like a good natured person, and if you are unsure of what to do in your objective, you can ask him. He has been well informed about the task." Caron turned around and started to walk away.

"So I'm not the only one with suspicions." Maradil whispered back to Caron.

One of the people in Aradale who watched them leave at the gate, Sarwen, wished Maradil and his friends good luck. She was a friend of his, and one of the few people in the enclave that didn't see them as trouble makers. "Good bye Maradil, Darzul, and Barin," she said "and good luck."

The fellowship of five began walking through the gates and Caron quickly ran over to them. "I almost forgot. One more thing, I must warn you all about something. Lately, many people have been disappearing throughout the countryside of Kunrude and the surrounding lands. I'm pretty sure that it is not Vanthar the Black's doing though. These people are disappearing without a trace. If the same were to happen to you, there may be no finding you in the vast countryside of Kunrude. So be very careful and I suggest, if at all possible, to absolutely not travel at night." Caron then turned to walk back and he wished them luck. Maradil then got a little bit nervous. What would he do without Caron's guidance with them?

Maradil said to Darzul, "The elf leaders are probably glad to get rid of us. We always cause them so much trouble. They probably gave us this task just to send us away to some far away kingdom so we'd be out of their way"

"Yeah," Darzul said back. "But now we get to go on another adventure. This should be fun."

* * *

><p><strong>Finally, here is the first chapter of the real story.<strong> **Throughout the story Maradil and his friends will go on many different adventures. This first adventure of theirs is sort of a way of beginning the story and introducing them as characters. Maradil is supposed to be sort of an anti-hero, or a reluctant-hero type character.**


	4. Countryside Journey

**Now the adventures of Maradil begin. This is where the meat of the story begins. I have already fully thought out Maradil's first adventure and will release it divided into three chapters, all released very shortly after one another. I DO NOT OWN LORD OF THE RINGS.  
><strong>

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><p>Maradil, his friends, and the two representatives had left the enclave of Aradale and were now well on their way through the countryside of Kunrude. Earlier they had to run back to the enclave because Maradil, Darzul, and Barin had hastily left and forgotten the representatives, but they were now all together. They had made progress, but it was now dusk and night was approaching.<p>

Darzul then said, "Maradil, it's dusk. You remember what the wizard warned us about, don't you? We had better find some place to camp for the night."

"I guess" Maradil replied back. "We could camp out at under those trees over there." He pointed out a cluster of trees whose branches looked as though they would make a good roof to block the wind.

After a few minutes they had gotten everything completely set up and everything was ready. The five of them made a small campfire and they sat down to eat. They didn't have the time to cook anything and it was probably also too risky, so they just pulled out some Elvish waybread that they had in their packs and ate.

"We probably shouldn't have this fire ablaze for too long", Jeredia said. "You know how risky it is."

Maradil responded, "It's not that dark yet. I thought that maybe we had a little time and could warm ourselves up before the cold night."

"Alright then Maradil", Barin joined in. "If something were to happen because you were being reckless, as usual, I'm getting out of here as quick as possible."

"You really wouldn't leave me behind would you?" Maradil said back jokingly.

"Of course I won't you fool.", he then leaned over to Maradil and whispered, "But I'm not sure I can say the same about those two tag-alongs."

"Well, I'm bored." added in Darzul.

"You know what this calls for?" Maradil asked. "Some music to pass the time. Maradil had a devious smirk on his face like he was planning something. He then pulled out a small stringed instrument and started to play.

"Where were you even keeping that thing?" Barin asked. "I never saw you pack it." Maradil then looked towards Barin.

"Oh I know what's coming." said Darzul and he started to snicker a little.

Maradil then began, "Not sure if you two have heard it, but now let me tell you a tale. A tale of a dwarf who really loved his ale. The tale of Barin's Blunder." Maradil now looked like he was about to burst out laughing.

"Oh hell no, not this again." Barin shouted. "By Nazog's beard, you two are just never going to let me live that down." Nazog, for those who might not be familiar, was the dwarf after whom the port town of Nazog was named after, where Barin had grown up, and he is also someone whom Barin is very proud of and looks up to.

"What's he talking about?" asked Pathil, "What is this Barin's Blunder that he speaks of?"

"Don't listen to him, he's filled with all kinds of nonsense." Barin answered. "Just don't worry about it." Barin was now getting red all over. He did not want these two people he hardly knew to find out about his embarrassing secret. "Besides Maradil, for someone raised by elves, you can't even sing that well."

"Relax" Maradil said. "I just love seeing how you react when you think I'm going to tell others about it. Joking aside, it's now gotten very dark. We should put out this fire and get to sleep." With that, they all did just that.

* * *

><p>Maradil woke up around what seemed to be the middle of the night and found that everyone else was still asleep. He tried to go back to sleep but, he kept hearing strange noises outside, some of which didn't sound friendly. He could see through the tent what appeared to be the shapes of something off in the distance. It seemed as though it could be wolf, or some other predatory nocturnal animal, but there was an air of dread about it. Even worse, he felt as though it was looking right at him. Though he couldn't fully see it, Maradil was sure that it could see him clearly.<p>

Then Maradil heard what sounded like a bow firing and an arrow flew towards the creature. It didn't hit it, but it was enough to scare it off and the creature ran away as fast as it could. Maradil was glad that it was gone. He got up and went outside. He looked up in the trees and saw Pathil sitting there with his bow by his side.

"What were you doing up?" asked Maradil

"I couldn't really sleep." Pathil said. "I thought I'd just stand watch instead. It's a good thing I did. Go back to sleep now, there's nothing to worry about."

Maradil went back to his sleeping bundle inside the tent. When trying to fall asleep, he heard a sweet sounding humming which then turned into singing. Was it Pathil singing an elvish song? It sounded so comforting and soothing, and it very much reminded Maradil of a song his adoptive mother used to sing to him to help him fall asleep when he was a child. This time it also had the same effect. He could feel sleep taking hold of him and he closed his eyes.

* * *

><p>There was a noise like blasting horns and Maradil shot up out of his blankets. He then seemed really annoyed. "I swear if this is Barin..."<p>

He went outside and saw group of horseman riding past their camp as quickly as they could and blowing their horns as they went by. Barin rushed out of the other tent.

"Is it breakfast time already!" He looked very excited and was obviously still half asleep. He was still unaware that they were not in Aradale.

"Well that wasn't very nice of them" Darzul appeared behind Maradil.

Jeredia also emerged from the tent. "I wonder what they were in such a panic for. Those were war horns signaling for troops to muster."

Pathil also appeared. "I'm sort of glad they did that. I'm not sure how much longer I would have lasted having to listen to the dwarf's snoring."

"I guess this means no breakfast" Barin said, sounding disappointed and finally to his senses.

After packing up their camp, the group ate a quick breakfast of some jerky and then they were off. They made haste in order to try to make up for some lost time. The five of them were hoping to reach Nasatra within a few days.

The next few days went by swiftly and with almost no incident. They were now only about a half day's journey from the city when they came upon a valley filled with several mysterious mounds.

"What are these things?" asked Barin, with a puzzled look.

"I've seen these before." said Jeredia, "These hills are some sort of burial mounds, probably for some ancient chieftains from this area a long time ago."

"I suggest we go around them." Pathil added.

"I agree", Jeredia responded.

"Too late" said Barin and pointed towards Maradil, who was already running through the valley filled with the burial mounds.

"Maradil no, come back!" Jeredia shouted after him. Then there was a rumbling noise and out from holes underneath several of the burial mounds crawled many hideous and fell looking creatures. They stood on two legs and their hands had long razor sharp claws. They all let out a horrible shriek and started rushing towards Maradil.

"That dumbass!" exclaimed Barin. He pulled out his battle-axe and rushed towards Maradil to help him. Darzul, Pathil and Jeredia pulled out their weapons and did the same as Barin.

By the time they had reached him, Maradil already had his two weapons out as well and they all formed a circle with their backs to each other. Then the fight was on. They began dodging the claws of the creatures while slashing and chopping at them whenever they could. One rushed towards Maradil and he side-stepped it and in the process cut off both of its arms, each with disgusting long nails at ends of its fingers. Barin managed to chop a few down with his axe and Pathil shot out the eyes of one with his bow. After felling quite a few of them, the creatures decided it wasn't worth it and fled.

"Glad that's over." sighed Darzul.

"You idiot, what were you thinking?!" Jeredia yelled to Maradil, "You really need to listen more before just rushing into things. You could have gotten yourself killed."

"I don't think listening is one of his strong points." said Barin.

'What were those things anyway?" asked Pathil.

"The locals around here call them Kurai Demons" Jeredia answered. Though they aren't really actual demons. They like to burrow down into the ground and usually make their homes in places like these burial mounds. They probably were disturbed when Maradil walked through the valley where their homes were."

"I thought it would have been quicker to cross through the valley." Maradil finally said.

"In the future, remember that the path that looks the easiest may not always be the quickest or safest. Sometimes that's exactly the sort of thing creatures like those are counting on; some unlucky traveler to cross their path and become their next meal." Jeredia addressed to the group. From what Maradil could tell, Jeredia was well traveled and very knowledgeable on many things.

"Let's get going", Pathil said. "Our destination is close now, lets not stop until we get there. We've wasted enough time here already. It's not a good idea to stay here for too long." They all turned and started to carefully walk around the edge of the valley. Maradil turned and took one last look at the place. As far as his eyes could see, there were burial mounds that seemed to stretch on for miles throughout the valley and surrounding highlands. He could hear the wind howling in the distance. It gave the place an ominous feel.

* * *

><p>The rest of their journey went without incident and soon they reached the city gates. There they found that a small escort had been expecting them and was ready to take them to the palace where they would meet the King of Kunrude and discuss their mission. It was only after they had gotten to the city that they learned from one of their escorts that there had been a safer way to get to the city and that they had taken a wrong turn.<p>

"Figures", grumbled Barin, "We always end up doing everything the hard way."

"Alright", Jeredia spoke up, "We've now reached our objective and it's time to start our task. The King has not arrived back at the city yet, so we may have to wait a bit. The palace is closed off until he returns, so you won't be able to return there, though Pathil and I must go there to discuss things with the king's adviser. Just try to find someplace to stay and let us know where you are. Then we will send a messenger to go find you and summon you to the palace when the time comes." With that, Jeredia and Pathil were off.

Now it was finally the three of them, at least for a little while. "I'm hungry for some real food and I have a mighty thirst for some ale right about now." Barin said.

"Alright", said Maradil, "Lets look around for a tavern or inn, I'm sure there must be a bunch of them around here. After about two hours of searching, they finally found a place. The sign hanging above the door read: "The Dancing Dragon", with a picture of one drawn on the sign. The place seemed to have a bit of a character to it.

"This should be interesting." said Maradil, and with that they entered.

* * *

><p><strong>It took me forever before I finally got the motivation to start writing this story again. For now I will try to quickly put up the chapters for Maradil's first adventure as quickly as I can. In the next chapter, Maradil and his friends have a few odd occurrences at the Dancing Dragon and then they begin their task.<strong>


	5. Complications Arise

**Maradil's adventure continues as he now enters the Dancing Dragon and thus begins a series of strange events. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>"Maradil, are you sure about this?" asked Darzul. "This place place looks pretty sketchy." Darzul was right, from the outside, the Dancing Dragon appeared to be old and it seemed like the sort of place where all types of strange people could be found.<p>

"I'm sure it'll be fine." said Maradil, sounding half sure. He looked on the wall of the entrance area of the tavern and saw a poster that read:

"The Bearded Ladies, performing here at the Dancing Dragon tonight and every night all next week."

"The Bearded Ladies?" Maradil said perplexed. "Are they some sort of traveling band? What a strange name." When they walked into the main room, it felt as though everyone suddenly turned towards them and was watching them. After a few moments everyone went back to what they were doing and did not seem to take notice of them.

"Well, lets get us a room for the night." suggested Darzul. They went up to the counter and after talking to the man there, they started going up the stairs to the third floor. They were very glad to get away from him as quickly as possible; his breath smelled like onions and beer. Went they got to their room, they examined it and found that it wasn't half bad. They then set their stuff down and decided to go back downstairs for something to eat and drink.

Upon reaching the main room again, they each ordered some mutton and ale. Looking around, Maradil took in the atmosphere of the place. He turned and saw what appeared to be little girl sitting next to them.

"I thought children weren't allowed into places like this?" Maradil said.

"I'm actually 112 years old." she had heard him and responded. Maradil then realized, it was a female dwarf. Often, people would mistake them as being human children, though they were probably twice the age of any human adult.

"Opps, my mistake, didn't realize you were a dwarf." Maradil responded

"It happens sometimes." she said and returned to her drink.

Maradil leaned over to Barin and whispered, "Hey Barin, I thought female dwarves were also supposed to have beards."

"Not all of them." Barin whispered back.

Then a man spoke up and he said: "Here they finally are, the traveling band known as, the Bearded Ladies!" Up onto a platform stepped four people. From what Maradil could tell, they were all woman, very muscular too, and much to Maradil's surprise, dispite knowing what their name was, they all had beards. Maradil nearly choked on his ale when he looked up and saw them. Two of them appeared to be human women and the other two were short, so Maradil assumed that they must be the bearded female dwarves he's heard stories about. Aside from that, they played their musical instruments quiet well, and when they sang they had unusually deep voices. Everyone in the room was cheering them on and dancing. From what he could tell, they were quite popular and well known in these parts.

"At least they can sing better than you Maradil." Barin said and laughed.

"Oh shut up" Maradil said looking at Barin and appearing in a sour mood.

"Well, I'm tired and I'm going to bed." said Darzul. "Make sure Barin doesn't make an ass of himself from drinking too much."

"Alright Darzul, good night." Maradil said. After about an hour, Barin too then went back upstairs to their room, that just left Maradil alone. The crowd in the main room had grown much smaller and now only a few people were left. Just then, Maradil felt something brush past his leg. He immediately jumped up, not expecting it.

"Sorry about that." he heard a voice say. He turned and saw a woman sitting next to him; he hadn't even noticed her come in. She turned towards the ground and Maradil saw what appeared to be a fox circling around him. She picked it up and put it in her lap. "I see you've just met my pet fox Burt. He gets curious when he's around strangers and really likes to explore things."

"It's alright." Maradil said. "I just wasn't expecting it." He could see that something seemed off about this woman. Something about her appearance was elvish, but Maradil couldn't tell whether she was an elf, a human, or perhaps half of each. She had long, yellowish-blonde hair like the sun that was wavy in some places and wore a white outfit. Her appearance seemed radiant, like someone that everyone would notice, yet she had come in while barely being noticed by anyone, even Maradil. She had a short-sword slung across her side and on her back she kept a bow and quiver with arrows. Based on that, he could deduce that she was most likely a skilled hunter. This skill of reading people was something Maradil had picked up over the years.

"So," she said, "Are you also here to drink away your problems?"

"Something like that." Maradil said. "I'm just here for a task." After a while, they began to talk, mostly about news of events going on throughout the lands of Lower Earth. Apparently she had been to the elf enclave of Aradale many times before, but Maradil had never seen her there before. When they were done she got up and started to leave with her pet fox following.

"Well, it was nice talking to you." she said as she was leaving. "Who knows, maybe we'll met again someplace. Oh, and as for my name, you can just call me Sylvia." As quickly as she had appeared, she disappeared. It was strange, something about that woman seemed very suspicious to Maradil.

He too then started to go. Before he could turn he heard a very deep voice. "Hi there cutie pie." He turned around and saw that it was one of the female dwarves of the Bearded Ladies. He noticed that she had a big mole next to her lip. They were packing up and starting to go to their rooms. "You should come here more often."

"I'll, I'll think about it." Maradil said stuttering nervously. He thought to himself: "I think it's about time I got out of here." He made haste back to his room as quick as possible without making it look like he was trying to. The female dwarf then blew a kiss after him. Maradil got to the door of the room where Darzul and Barin were at. He felt a shiver run down his spine when he thought about the experience that had just happened. "That was even stranger" he said to himself. He got into the room and quickly shut the door, making double sure it was locked.

Barin, in bed and still half awake, noticed his panicking mood. "What happened down there?" he asked in a daze.

"Don't ask." Maradil said. Then he proceeded to get into bed as quick as possible and hid himself under the covers. Maradil was certain that he was going to have strange dreams that night.

* * *

><p>He awoke at around mid-morning and found that Darzul was already up. He didn't want to get out of bed just yet, though the blankets smelled sort of musty.<p>

"Hello Darzul, is it time to get up already?" Maradil called out to him.

"Something's come up, you should get up now and get prepared quickly." Darzul said. Maradil could hear the tone of urgency in his voice. He got up and with some difficulty also woke up Barin. The three of them got ready and all gathered around the small table in their room.

Darzul spoke up, "Yesterday you were probably wondering why it was taking so long for the king to come back. I just found out that he was actually supposed to be back days ago. This morning a message was delivered by the palace here by a messenger and I was awake to get it. He showed them the message:

"Something has come up and we need you. Please make all haste to the palace and meet us in the planning room." it was signed by Jeredia.

"It sounds urgent" Darzul said. "We should hurry up and get their." They all quickly packed up their things and got ready to leave; they had a feeling that they might not be back for a while. They went downstairs and paid the innkeeper at the counter their fee for the night. Much to Barin's dismay, they had to skip breakfast and headed straight for the palace.

They reached the gates of the palace and showed the guards there the letter. "Ah, we've been expecting you." one of them said. "Follow me." He led them on a path that cut through many parts of the palace and then they climbed a set of stairs and reached a double door. They opened it and saw inside many chairs and tables stacked with books and parchment. They saw many people that appeared to be palace officials inside; Jeredia and Pathil were there as well.

"Good, you made it." said Jeredia, walking over to them with Pathil. "Let's get right to business. As you three probably already know, it has been a few days since the king was supposed to be back. We have heard reports that he and his convoy had disappeared while passing through the countryside. With all of this commotion about people being kidnapped and disappearing throughout the kingdom, I think it is safe to assume that the same has happened to the king." He began looking over some of the papers on the table.

One of the men in the room spoke up. "With the king gone, that leaves me, his adviser, in charge of maintaining order in his absence. It may be a bit much to ask, considering you are here for a different reason, but we need your help."

"What can we do?" Maradil asked. He examined the king's adviser. There was something shady and mysterious about him; just being near him gave Maradil an uneasy feeling. His appearance seemed sort of snake-like, and he felt like the kind of person that could be hiding many secrets underneath. Maradil was not sure if he should trust him or any of his words. He began to think to himself, "What would Caron do if he were in my position?"

"The original reason we had asked for your aid here," he continued, "Was because of the conflict brewing with the breakaway group in the kingdom led by that scheming warlock Vanthar the Black. Things were on the verge of civil war, the king wanted to try and negotiate a peaceful solution. It was unlikely that either side would have agreed to any terms if intermediaries were sent from either side. That's why my majesty decided that it would be best if we got someone from a neutral party to act as a mediator in the negotiations. So he sent for help from the elves of Aradale in the neighboring land of Bornodir and asked them to send someone to be that mediator. The people that they sent were you three and Jeredia from our distant allies in the desert land of Harastan and Pathil from the east." he looked at each of the three.

"To make things worse," Jeredia came in, "The disappearances and kidnappings started. Many different people have disappeared, both important and unimportant alike."

"People from around the bordering lands have also disappeared, and with the events already going on, that's only made us look suspicious." the adviser added in. "They are convinced that we are the ones who are responsible and are demanding that we return the hostages or war will be declared."

Jeredia put his hand on his forehead and sighed. "As you can see, things are really bad right now."

The adviser continued, "On top of already having to deal with the civil war caused by Vanthar, we would also have to fight enemies on all sides as well. Also one of the people that disappeared was a princess from a land in the far north-east. That's pretty far from here, but it's unlikely to be connected, though they think otherwise. So now we have a member of royalty missing, and then our own king goes missing, this just keeps getting worse."

"I don't think that one is connected to this though." Jeredia said. "That princess probably disappeared for other reasons or ran away on her own, we can't waste our time focusing on that. You remember what Caron said about the kidnappings don't you Maradil?"

"Yes" Maradil said. "He said that he doesn't think Vanthar might be involved."

"I however think that Vanthar is connected somehow." Jeredia said. "But, I don't think that Vanthar is directly responsible for it, just like what Caron thought. I think that he might have a henchman or a right-hand man that he is probably having do all of the dirty work, including the kidnappings."

"Our first priority should be finding and rescuing the king." the adviser said.

"Then we should go after this henchman. That could help us unravel the plot behind these kidnapping and most likely lead us to Vanthar." Jeredia added. "This situation needs to be solved as quickly as possible before things spiral out of control."

Then a messenger came into the room and handed a parchment to the adviser and he read it. Then the adviser spoke up, "It would seem that after the king had disappeared, some of our soldiers that were sent to investigate the area found a group of soldiers a few miles off that seemed to be under the banner of Vanthar. They had sent some scouts to follow these soldiers and when they came back after following them for many miles they said that they had found the place where they are camped out at. They believe that this place they found may be where they are keeping the king hostage and perhaps a few of the other missing people."

"Where is this place at?" asked Jeredia.

"At an old fortress called Thawer Gamerlich in the south of Kunrude, right by a lake, and a little too close for comfort to the land of Suroth." said the adviser.

"Why there?" asked Jeredia. "Wouldn't it make more since to keep him in the old Kunrude Fortress where Vanthar's actual base is at? That place is extremely difficult to capture and easy to defend, which is why none of the king's forces have been able capture it in the first place."

"He probably wants to keep his hands clean and hold the hostages in an out of the way location."said the adviser.

"The whole thing seems a little too convenient how we suddenly find out where the king is being held, in such a far, out of the way place."said Jeredia.  
>"Either way, we have to go try and rescue him."<p>

"I'll select some of our best men and form a group for this mission." said the adviser. "You five should go along too." he gestured to Maradil, Darzul, Barin, Jeredia, and Pathil. "I think you might be useful in this battle."

"Yes!" Barin shouted. "Finally, some excitement." The group went to get their things and prepare for the coming battle.

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><p><strong>Maradil and his friends are now preparing to set out to Thawer Gamerlich and go save the king. The next chapter should be coming out soon. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish his first adventure in one more chapter or two.<strong>


	6. Assualt on Thawer Gamerlich

**Maradil and his group have found out the location of the kidnapped king and are now heading towards Thawer Gamerlich, but what will they find there? I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>Maradil, Darzul, Barin, Jeredia Pathil, and the host of soldiers assembled by the king's adviser were now making their way towards the old fortress by the lake in southern Kunrude. They reached the edge of a valley and stopped.<p>

"Is that it?" Maradil pointed out a collection of structures on the far side of the valley by a lake. It was early morning and a misty fog surrounded the area and made it seem ominous and desolate. **  
><strong>

"Yes, that's it." said Jeredia. "Be careful, Vanthar's soldiers are probably waiting for an ambush." Then, almost as soon as he'd said it, several archers appeared along the walls. They began firing arrows, and their attack began, as if they knew exactly where they would be. "Everyone into position!" The king's soldiers put out their large rectangular, shields and pikes in front of them and formed a wall, while the archers went to the back and fired arrows to take care of the archers on the wall. "Charge!" Jeredia yelled.

Everyone let out a battle cry and rushed towards the fortress. The wall of soldiers reached the gate, all of them survived the charge thanks to the archers that kept the defenders on the wall busy. Pathil jumped onto the shoulders of one soldier and vaulted over the wall with incredible speed. He made it over and all that could be heard from the other side was the clash of several weapons and then after a few moments there was silence. The gates flung open and Pathil stood there unscathed with many dead soldiers at his feet.

"Sometimes that elf scares me." said Barin. All of the soldiers on the outside charged in now that Pathil had opened the gates for them. Barin let out a mighty dwarven war cry and charged in, then after going a few yards he turned back and started running in the opposite direction.

"Where the hell are you going, the battle is this way!" yelled Maradil.

"I have to take a dump and I have to take one now!" Barin yelled back. He ran as fast as he could towards an outhouse that they had passed earlier along the path they had taken to get to the fortress. He rushed in and quickly slammed the door shut.

"Of course Barin would be the one to do something like this at such a time such as this. I'm going to have to get back at him for this later." Maradil said, sounding very annoyed. "I'm almost certian he did that on purpose."

"I guess we'll have to manage without him. That's Barin for you, only he would be insane enough to try and take a dump in the middle of a battle" Darzul said, they turned back and headed into the fortress through the gates. They fought their way through Vanthar's soldiers, somewhere along the way getting separated from Jeredia, and stopped at what appeared to be the doors to a barracks, but when Maradil tried to open them, they wouldn't budge.

"They must be barricaded from the other side." he said, "Wait, what's that?" Maradil put his ear to the door and could hear something happening on the other side. Then he heard a voice:

"Good, that's all of them. Take them to the tower." It was a strange, demonic sounding voice. It sounded metallic and echoy, as if from a suit of armor.

"Someone, help us!" he heard someone yell as they were being dragged away. They knew they were here.

"That has to be the hostages." Maradil said. "They're being taken to the tower. We'll have to find another way around. Also, where's Pathil?" Maradil had just now noticed, Pathil had disappeared to somewhere.

"Nevermind him." Darzul said, "He's probably busy somewhere else." Maradil and Darzul then took a left and headed down a narrow hall. They reached a spiral staircase, most likely part of some sort of defensive tower, and quickly made their way up, fighting through enemy soldiers along the way.

"This is strange." Maradil said. "So far this has been way too easy. This fortress is very poorly defended for a place where they would be keeping important hostages."

"You're right, it is strange." said Darzul. When they reached the top of the staircase, they ended up in a room which opened out into a long hallway, at the end of which they could see a set of heavy, barred doors. "That must be where they are keeping the hostages."

Then they heard a crash, and what sounded like a group of soldiers dying. After that, all was quiet, then there was a scraping sound and every few seconds in between, a knocking sound. From what they could tell, at the end of the hallway it opened to the right and there was the beginning of a staircase that led down. It sounded like someone was dragging a large weapon along the ground as they walked up the stairs. It was getting closer and they could now hear heavy footsteps. Maradil and Darzul both felt a sudden sense of dread. Maradil could feel himself shaking a little bit. Who or what was coming up those steps?

It finally reached the top of the stairs and out into the hallway stepped a large, towering figure. It was covered from head to toe in a suit of armor and it was almost impossible to make out its features underneath, almost all of them being concealed by the armor it wore. On its head it wore a great horned helmet on which the only part of the face not covered were the eyes. They couldn't tell just what sort of creature it was; perhaps it was an orc or some kind of demon. They weren't even sure if it was a living creature, the only sound they could hear was its heavy breathing. It held in its hands a mighty and heavy looking battle-axe, from the looks of it, even taller than Barin; that must have been the weapon being dragged up the stairs. Then, it spoke:

"Impressive, you two are the only ones to have made it this far." It was the voice Maradil had heard before through the door ordering the prisoners to be brought here. "But this is where it ends for you. I am Othnorgur, the one who my master Vanthar has left in charge of this fort, and the one who will end your lives. He is paying me a good amount of money to make sure that happens."

"Then I take it you must be the lieutenant of Vanthar we were warned about." Maradil said.

"As well as the one responsible for the kidnappings and disappearances." Darzul added.

"I don't know." Othnorgur said. "Why don't you come and find out?" it was obvious he wasn't in the mood to talk. He lifted up his axe from the ground and with incredible speed began charging down the hall towards them. The tip of his axe scraped along the wall as ran by and made a deep scratch in the stone. When he reached them, he began swinging his axe; narrowly dodging, it surprised Maradil how easily he could swing it dispite how heavy it looked.

He smashed through everything that got in his way and everything that Maradil and Darzul tried to take cover behind. Darzul rushed towards Othnorgur with his spear and as hard as he could impaled it inbetween the armor plates and into his ribcage. Othnorgur gave Darzul a mighty kick and sent him flying into the wall. He grabbed the spear with both hands and snapped it in half and then pulled out the remaining piece from himself.

Maradil rushed to Darzul, who was just recovering and getting himself off of the wall. "That should have done some major damage. Does this guy even bleed?" Darzul's attack didn't seem to have done any damage, and what would have made a normal person bleed, was not true for Othnorgur. Maradil tossed the weaponless Darzul one of his weapons and they circled around behind Othnorgur.

Darzul jumped up behind Othnorgur and put his arms around his neck and tried to pull him down to throw off his balance. Then Maradil charged him from the front, jumped up and stabbed his sword into Othnorgur's collarbone area. Maradil then tried to throw his weight over Othnorgur's head while holding on to the sword and pull him down with Darzul's help. Othnorgur then flew into a rage like an angry bull and shook Darzul off of his back. He then grabbed the sword impaled into him and pulled it out with Maradil still holding on. He grabbed Maradil by the arm and sent him flying out of the window with incredible force.

"Maradil!" Darzul yelled.

After being flung out of the window, Maradil did the best he could to catch his barrings and grabbed onto a hanging banner right before he reached the ground and used it to quickly scale down and landed softly on his back. Then he heard Othnorgur begin to charge down the hallway he had just been thrown out of. The window looked too small for Othnorgur to fit through, but he didn't seem to care. He just charged right through and made a gaping hole in the wall where the window was. He came flying down with with his axe in his hands and came down with a crash, Maradil rolling out of the way of his axe just in time.

Maradil got up as quickly as he could and picked up his sword. He saw Darzul jump out of the hole in the wall and grabbed the same banner Maradil had used to get down and made it to the ground safely.

"Forget this Darzul, lets fallback, he's too strong for us." Maradil yelled. The two of them regrouped and began running through the mazes of battlements scattered throughout the fortress, knocking things over as they went along in an effort to slow down Othnorgur. To him it didn't matter, he just plowed his way through, both soldiers and obstacles alike. Many of the archers began firing a volley of arrows at him, most of them found their mark but he just kept charging after Maradil and Darzul, in some cases running straight through the walls where they were weak. Then the archers tried shooting arrows at his legs in an effort to slow him down.

"This guy is a monster." Maradil said. "What's he even made of, rocks?" Though he wasn't as big as one, Othnorgur seemed to have the strength and durability of a troll. They reached an open courtyard and realized there was no other way out.

"This battle has become so much fun!" Othnorgur said. He grabbed his axe and then began to swing it in a circle around him in a deadly whirlwind. He missed them and the axe caught on a wooden beam. He pulled it out and then once more rushed towards Maradil. Then, they heard a familiar battle-cry. Jumping down from the top of the wall and coming down with his axe into Othnorgur's back, it was Barin. Othnorgur let out a great cry of pain and then running around in a circle fell forward onto the ground and remained there motionless.

"I leave for just a few minutes and I miss out on all of this fun?"Barin said.

"I guess that makes up for you running off on us." Maradil said with a smile on his face. The two of them went over to Barin and began walking away. "I know where they're keeping the prisoners. They're in a sealed room at the top of the tower." Eventually they got back up to the tower and the wooden bar over the door was so heavy that Barin had to chop it away with his axe. They opened the doors and went into the dimly lit room.

"Hello, is anybody in here?" Darzul called.

"Yes, there are. We need help. Are you here to rescue us?" said one of the prisoners who got up and ran to Maradil. There were about sixty prisoners all kept in the room.

"Yes we are here to rescue all of you. But first, is the king anywhere in here?" Maradil said.

"That would be me." responded the man.

* * *

><p>After untying and freeing all of the prisoners, Maradil took the king to his soldiers at their camp outside of Thawer Gamerlich and met with Jeredia. "We've counted and identified all of the prisoners." Jeredia said. "All of the missing people are accounted for, except one. That missing princess is not among them. It is as I thought, her disappearance is completely unrelated to any of this."<p>

The king turned to them, "I must thank you for all that you have done." said the king. "You have done a great deed today. The missing people can now be returned safely to their homes and I can return to the city and fix this situation. Vanthar has gone too far with this and all of his political scheming." He looked at Maradil, Darzul, Barin, Jeredia, and Pathil. "So you five are the ones who the elves of Aradale sent to come and act as mediators?"

"Yes" Jeredia answered. "I must ask, your majesty, what exactly was Vanthar hoping to accomplish by kidnapping all of those people?"

"From what I overheard, it was all part of a complex plan." the king said. "He had hired that creature Othnorgur to be his lieutenant and had him secretly do the kidnappings, all the while Vanthar made himself look innocent in all of it. He would then start to fan the flames of war and discontent by giving the neighboring lands the idea that it was us who were responsible. Then he would try to gain their trust by pretending to have rescued the hostages from us and would return them back to their homes after uniting all of the border lands against us. They would then declare war, attacking and overwhelming us, and we would be defeated. After that, Vanthar would make himself the new ruler of the kingdom and he would have gained many new allies from the neighboring lands after supposedly rescuing their people and returning them."

They went outside of the tent and surveyed the destruction that had been caused by the battle. Out in the distance they heard something. Coming over a hill they saw something charging towards the camp, letting out a loud war-cry. "You have got to be kidding me!" Maradil exclaimed. It was Othnorgur and he was making one last desperate effort to get to the king. Then, a solider grabbed a spear and hurled it; it got Othnorgur in the throat and he fell over, this time appearing dead for sure.

"That must have been some fight you had against Othnorgur."said the king. Then a messenger ran up to them and handed a message to the king. He quickly read over it. "Well this is bad. It seems that the city of Nasatra is now under attack by Vanthar's forces."

"So this was all a diversion." said Jeredia. "I knew this whole thing felt too easy."

"Vanthar probably decided that he didn't need the hostages anymore, so he decided to use them for this diversion." the king said.

"That must be why he kidnapped you. To use you as bait to lure us here and divert our attention." Jeredia said. "Well, it looks like we have to head back to the city now."

* * *

><p><strong>It seems that I'll be needing another chapter to finish the first adventure, so now it will be four chapters instead of three, (if you don't count the introduction chapter).<strong>


	7. An End to the Matter

**The King has now been rescued from captivity and reunited with his forces. Now news has arrived that capital city of Nasatra is under attack. Realizing it was all a diversion, they must now go back to defend the city. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>After about a few hours, the king and his forces were ready to set out. Maradil sat alone at the top a hill and looked around at the destruction that had been caused by the battle. Soldiers from both sides lay dead in various places. The fortress lived up to its name of Thawer Gamerlich, which in an ancient elvish language meant "Hill of Corpses". It finally hit him; these people were humans, living, breathing creatures just like him and his friends. To many, killing other people was much different than killing an orc, or a troll, or any other creature. Maradil had killed people before, most of them bad people, corrupt people, people who had it coming, and then there were other times when he had regretted killing certian people.<p>

When faced with humans or other similar races, Maradil and his friends often tried to deliver mostly non-lethal blows; most of the soldiers Maradil had faced in this battle had probably escaped alive with their injuries. Back at the elvish enclave of Aradale, Maradil was often made fun of for being too soft and sometimes showing compassion to even enemies. This was something that many of the elves at the enclave considered to be Maradil's greatest flaw. But in his mind, Maradil knew very well that eventually, the day would come when he would have to take things seriously if he ever ended up in a life or death situation. They had just barely escaped with their lives against Othnorgur, who they were certain they had killed, but this turned out to be false.

He wondered what Vanthar could have promised his soldiers to make them fight for him. This was a war that had been started by nothing but greed and a hunger for power. Maradil thought to himself: "Vanthar must be stopped so that this pointless bloodshed will end." When the diversion had been discovered, many of the surviving forces of Vanthar at Thawer Gamerlich had fled, and even the body of Othnorgur was nowhere to be found.

"Vanthar will pay for this." he heard the king say, who appeared next to him. "But the time to bury and mourn the dead will be at another time. Come Maradil, we must be setting out now." The two of them made their way to the host of soldiers where they mounted onto horses. "If we were to ride on horseback it would not take us long to reach the city, only about a day's journey." The horses then began to gallop north towards the city.

"Will we be able to make it in time?" asked Darzul who appeared, riding a horse next to them.

"Of course we will." answered the king. The land of Kunrude has borne witness to many conflicts over the ages. Its strategic location has made it a desirable target for many would-be conquerors. It is for that very reason that the city of Nasatra was built to be able to withstand a siege lasting for months, even years. On top of that, there are many skilled and highly trained soldiers garrisoned at the city, prepared and willing to defend it and their homes from invaders at all costs; even most of the woman are trained to fight."

Maradil took in the scenery of the countryside as they rode by with all haste. Then, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. There was a black, shadowy shape just barely out of view on their far right inbetween the hills. He tried to get a closer look but just couldn't make out what it was. "So you've seen it too?" Darzul said as he rode in close to Maradil and Barin so nobody would hear. "It's been following us ever since we left Thawer Gamerlich."

"Well, I'm up for a bit of excitement." said Maradil. "Lets chase after it." They broke off from the main group of riders and began pursuing it with great speed. It must have realized by were on to it and it began to run away. The chase continued on for a few miles before they saw it jump straight down a cliff. When they reached the top of the cliff, they immediately stopped. The cliff suddenly dropped off into a deep gorge that opened into a land with a vastly different landscape. For miles and miles in that direction, all they could see was wasteland, swamp, and decay in a dark, toxic and ominous looking landscape, in which the moon let off an evil, reddish glow through the blackened clouds.

"The king appeared behind them on his horse. "What are you doing. Don't go that way. In that direction towards the south lays the land of Suroth, and that is not a place you want to go. It's not a friendly place for people like you and I. That thing was probably baiting you. If you were to go down there, you probably would not be able to get back out and most likely you'll get lost in the hazardous landscape. Come, let us go rejoin the rest of the riders, it's not worth it."

As the day passed by, they gathered from the area surrounding city whatever soldiers they could muster. By nightfall they arrived at the fields in front of the city. They had not breached the walls yet, that was good, they now had them exactly where they wanted them. They were going to attempt to perform a pincher maneuver, trapping them between their forces and the city walls.

"Alright, it's been a long day." said Barin, "Lets show these invaders what we're made of."

"Charge!" yelled the king. The soldiers on horseback rode forth and slowly boxed in the enemy soldiers. Some managed to get out in time and fled in the direction they had come from. The ones that couldn't make it out realized the futility of their attack, and layed down there weapons in surrender.

"Thought you could try and take the city when my back was turned did you Vanthar?" the king said to himself. "You were sorely mistaken." All of the soldiers in the charge and on the city walls cheered. The king turned to his soldiers. "Vanthar now knows that he has screwed up badly and he'll probably be calling all of his troops back to Kunrude Fortress to defend him. They won't be able to keep him safe for long. The day is ours, now let us rest."

* * *

><p>After successfully defending the city, Maradil and his companions were invited by the king into the palace. Looking round at the palace as they were led through it, Maradil took note that for a monarch, the king lived quite modestly in the palace and not much of it seemed overly luxurious. It seemed that the king was more concerned with function than with comfort. They came into what looked to be the dining hall and the king turned to them.<p>

"Sit down." the king said. "I'm sure you must all be very tired and hungry after these past few days filled with battle and hardships, now let us feast." Maradil and the others all took a seat at the long wooden dining table and watched as servants brought out the dining ware and food. "I almost forgot", he continued. "We have another special guest." He gestured towards the door and Maradil was then filled with joy to see who it was. In walked Caron the Silver, whose robes and silvery-gray hair slightly shined in the candlelight like the light of the moon. "A wizard is always fine company."

"Caron, how? When did you get here?" Maradil asked almost speechless.

"When I had heard about what had happened a few days ago, I rode here as fast as I could." Caron answered. "I realized you had most likely gotten mixed up in things that were much larger than what you were originally sent here for. I arrived when the city was under attack and I helped in its defense from the invaders. This kingdom was in more peril than I originally thought. This Vanthar seems to possess some limited knowledge of the magical arts and has used it to his advantage in his plans. If he is to be defeated, you may need my aid."

"Vanthar is a coward." said the king. "He has blundered badly and is calling all of his soldiers back to Kunrude Fortress to defend him. He knows that he is defeated. Your coming here might have been for nothing. We should strike first before he gets the chance to recover. Tomorrow we shall set out for Kunrude Fortress. We did not dare attempt to capture it before because of how well defended it is. It is in a strategically advantageous location, but now his forces are weakened and in disarray. This may have created just the opening we need."

"What do you have in mind?" Maradil asked.

"First off, for now we will keep the rescued hostages here in the city where they will be safe. It may be too risky to send them home right now before the situation is resolved. Now, I knew the fortress very well back before it was taken over by Vanthar, and I know that there is a secret way to get inside. As of now with his guard lowered, it may be possible to have someone enter without being noticed. That is where you come in." he turned to Maradil, Darzul, Barin, Jeredia, and Pathil. "It is a small escape tunnel that comes up into an old section of the fortress, a section that is very rarely used. The fortress is actually many fortresses that have been built on top of each other over many ages. Once you are inside, you will head to the upper levels and take care of the guards on the wall and open the gate, then the rest should be easy. I will stay behind at the back of my forces until it is clear, along with Caron, who will be ready to rush in if something were to go wrong."

"One question," Jeredia said. "How did they know that we would be coming to Thawer Gamerlich? They seemed ready for us the moment we got there. That's a little suspicious. The only person besides the people who went to that battle that would know we were going there was the adviser."

"Come to think of it," said the king. "I haven't seen him at all since I got back. Summon him here at once. He has a lot of questions to answer."

"Apparently, according to the soldiers that were here," Caron said, "He disappeared around the time that the city came under attack. When I had arrived, I had noticed a man galloping away on a horse as fast as he could. I thought nothing of it at first, but he was heading in the direction of Kunrude Fortress."

"That treacherous snake." Maradil said. "I knew I felt something was off about him."

"We've got to get to the bottom of this." said the king. "He is now mostly likely in league with Vanthar and could reveal a great many of our secrets. We have to hurry and set out as soon as possible tomorrow. Alright, that's enough talking for tonight. Now we must rest for the day ahead. They were shown to their rooms by the palace servants and quickly got into bed. It was the first real sleep Maradil had gotten in days.

* * *

><p>It was now later the next day. They had set out early and made their way towards the fortress and were waiting on the cliffs nearby. The outside of the fortress appeared almost deserted. Many of Vanthar's soldiers had probably lost their nerve and fled while they still had the chance, that would make their job much easier. The king gave the signal, soldiers hid and Maradil with his group began to make their way to the far side of the fortress at a place where they could not be seen by someone looking down from the wall. They reached a rock and began to push it. Underneath it was concealed a metal trapdoor. They opened it and one by one they hopped down.<p>

They were now inside a dark and cramped tunnel. After traveling down it for a while, they came out into what they assumed was the lower levels of the fortress. Continuing on they stopped at a set of large metal doors. They were chained up and locked in a multitude of ways and what appeared to be numerous magical seals were placed on it.

"We must have taken a wrong turn." Maradil said. "This isn't on the map." The doors appeared to lead to an even deeper and older section of the fortress. It was highly likely that Vanthar was the one who had put all of the magical seals on the door and had it locked up tight, but why would he do that? Did he really want to make sure that nobody down there, or was it so something wouldn't get out? It appeared that not even Vanthar had set foot in this part of the fortress for a very long time.

"It's this way." Pathil said pointing at the map. "Come on, lets turn back and go the right way. We can't delay here." they turned around and headed in another direction. Maradil took one last look at the doors and wondered what sort of mysteries might be behind them. They finally came to a room that looked to be large cellar. They saw the steps leading up, but a guard saw them and ran away.

"Damn" Maradil said. "Now he's going to call his friends." The room was then flooded with about seven guards and encircled the group. Deciding not to waste any time, the group pulled out their weapons and fought them, managing to defeat all of them. They then began to run up the steps and into the upper levels. Barin ran past a keg of ale and then quickly ran back towards it. He bent down and put his mouth near the tap and drank a few gulps before running to catch back up. "Come on Barin, not now." Maradil. "We've got more important things to worry about."

"Sorry, I just had to. I couldn't just leave perfectly good ale like that sitting around untasted." Barin said. They rushed down the hallways fighting through soldiers and made it onto the walls. Reaching the gate winch, they turned it and slowly the gates opened. Maradil gave the signal from the wall and the king's soldiers charged into the fortress.

"Alright, that just leaves Vanthar." Darzul said. Jeredia and Pathil went to help the soldiers while Maradil, Darzul, and Barin traveled back down into the inner hallways and followed them in the direction the led to the throne room at the back of the fortress. Coming into a large room with many pillars they stopped. At the end were a set of double doors that led to Vanthar. Then something jumped down from the balcony above and landed with a crash, leaving a small crater on the tiled floor.

"You again!" Maradil exclaimed, with a very annoyed look. It was Othnorgur, who had somehow survived and made his way back to Kunrude Fortress.

"Did you miss me?" he said. "Now we have an opportunity for a rematch. I don't even care what becomes of Vanthar anymore, he has lost anyway. I just want to deliver some payback for those nasty injuries all of you gave me." He grabbed his axe that was hanging from his back and prepared for battle. "Now prepare yourselves!" He charged and began swinging his axe in deadly motions just like before.

They dodged and Barin made his way behind Othnorgur. He swung his axe and chopped at his legs, causing Othnorgur to fall to the ground. Barin ran back to Maradil. "That should slow him down." he said. "Lets fallback and come up with a plan. The three of them ran up the steps to the upper balcony and into one of the side rooms.

"This guy just won't die." Darzul said. "No matter what we do to him, he just gets back up. Is he immortal?"

"I think I know how he's doing it. There must be something binding him, like a phylactery. That would explain the near immortality. I've heard about such things from Caron. To kill someone like that, we'd need to find the phylactery and destroy, then they can be killed permanently. But we don't have the time to look for it, and I doubt he would be stupid enough to keep it with him so it can be destroyed along with him. For now, all we can do is slow him down." The wall was suddenly smashed to pieces. The three just barely got out of the way in time.

"Are you hiding because you're scared?" said Othnorgur. They quickly got out of the room and got back out into the open. Othnorgur ran and jumped back down to the ground.

"One question Othnorgur." Maradil said. "Of all of the missing people, we have found all of them except for one, the missing princess. Would you happen to know anything about that?"

"Ah, I've heard news of her supposed disappearance." he answered. "But I assure you, I had nothing to do with that." So the princess going missing was unrelated to this after all. The king would be happy to hear that.

Othnorgur had dropped his axe and now reached into his armor. He started pulling out a long metal chain and at the end of it was a large spiked weight. He began swinging it around the room and it tore through everything in its path. He wrapped it around one of the fallen stones and began to swing it around, making an even deadlier flail. He released the stone and it went flying, hitting the wall and creating a large hole. Othnorgur then sent the chain into the air and wrapped it around the chandelier and used it to swing down towards them. Maradil got an idea; he leaned over to Barin and quickly whispered something; Barin nodded in understanding and they got ready.

They quickly scattered and reached the opposite ends of the room. Maradil and Darzul then got to keeping Othnorgur busy. As he moved around, they could hear things shaking around inside of Othnorgur's armor where his stomach would be. How many other items he kept in there they could only guess. After about a minute they led him to the pillar and he threw his chain towards it and wrapped it around. He pulled, Maradil let off a smirk and they both got out of the way. The pillar fell straight down towards Othnorgur, and before he could act, it fell onto him. He was seemingly crushed underneath the heavy stone pillar and did not move after that.

What Maradil had Barin do was to weaken the pillar and then lure Othnorgur into wrapping his chain around it and then pulling it, thinking it would get them instead, but they expected that and got out of the way, and he fell right into their trap. They checked to make sure he was dead. Most of his body appeared to be crushed beneath the pillar, with only his arm sticking out.

"He should be dead for sure this time." Darzul said. "Lets move on." They turned to the doors and headed over to them.

"Lets end this and be done with it." Barin said eagerly. Without hesitation, they flung open the doors and stepped in. At the end of the room sat Vanthar on his throne.

"So you've come." he spoke. He was a man with long, dark hair and wore a robe that resembled a wizard's. He held in his hands a staff that appeared be similar to those used by wizards. Maradil stopped and looked at him. Then he laughed. "What's so funny?"

"You," Maradil said. "Here I was, after all the stories I've heard about you, thinking you were some kind of all powerful, immortal being. But then it turns out, you're just an ordinary mortal human-being. I guess that means we're both on the same level now. Vanthar's eyes widened with surprise at Maradil's bravado, then they turned into a look of annoyance.

"You wouldn't understand. The king just couldn't see things the way I did. The kingdom had so much potential to become rich and powerful and expand its borders far beyond what they are now. We were even once political rivals in days long past."

"So then you decided to form a separatist faction and break away from the kingdom? You misled many and threatened others into following you, and all for some political game?" Maradil said. You're going to answer for all of the lives you've wasted."

"So be it, but I'm not going done without a fight." Vanthar said. He lifted his staff and from the tip emitted a blinding flash of light. Next thing they knew he was right next to them and he began spinning his staff with unbelievable speed. He got Barin in both arms and legs at the joints which made him drop his axe and shield and fall to his knees. Darzul then charged at him and from his staff Vanthar fired a blast of energy that hit Darzul and sent him flying into the wall, knocking him unconscious. He then pointed the bottom end of the staff at Maradil and began thrusting it back and forth like a spear with such speed that Maradil could barely sidestep it or move his head from side to side each time to avoid it. Eventually Maradil's speed couldn't keep up and Vanthar jabbed him about a dozen times in various joints. He fell to the ground in pain and could hardly move any of his limbs.

"What would you know about this land and it's problems? You're not even from here; you're an outsider." he said. "For years, even ages this land has always been at conflict with neighboring lands who want to conquer it. Now when it looked like the same could happen again, many were beginning to lose confidence in the king. They believed him to be weak and unable to protect this land from invasion. Something had to be done, so I decided to do it. You don't understand the work I'm doing. Sure many sacrifices had to be made, but in the end, I'm trying to protect this land."

Then into the room ran Jeredia and Pathil. "Looks like the battle has already started." said Jeredia. Jeredia pulled out his sword and then went for him. Vanthar cast off his robes to allow himself more mobility and rushed up to the balcony on the level above them. Jeredia followed him up there, but with his staff Vanthar knocked away Jeredia's sword and then gave him a kick that sent him flying off the balcony. He then hit him in several places while in midair and Jeredia landed with a grunt, aching and sore, now the only one left able to fight was Pathil.

Pathil ran with his sword in hand and blocked Vanthar's thrusts with his staff. He was more agile than the others and easily dodged all of his blows. Then with a great downward slash, Pathil sliced Vanthar's staff and it shattered into many pieces. Then he came down with another swipe and slashed Vanthar diagonally across the torso. Vanthar gasped and clutched his chest, swaying back and forth.

Pathil went to tend to the others and payed no attention to Vanthar as he slowly made his way towards an opening behind the throne that led into a secret hallway. "Is everyone okay?" Maradil was just picking himself up off the ground and Barin was able to stand. Darzul however was still out-cold and Jeredia was too sore to move. "He won't make it far. Come on, if you can walk, lets go after him before he escapes."

"Maradil, don't you know better than to boast before a battle?" Barin said. "It's considered bad luck, and seeing what just happened, I'd say it's true. Never underestimate any opponent."

"Well, I guess you're right." Maradil said, obviously embarrassed after being so easily defeated shortly after his boast.

* * *

><p><strong>This last chapter ended up being a lot longer than I expected. It seems I'll have to divide it into two separate chapters now. The next chapter will finally be the conclusion to Maradil's first adventure.<strong>


	8. Respect and Praise

**The battle is almost over. Vanthar has been defeated, and now the first adventure of Maradil and his friends heads toward its conclusion. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

* * *

><p>Vanthar limped down the dimly lit hallway in a desperate effort to reach an exit in order to make his escape. It was probably futile in his condition with his mobility so reduced. At any moment now, they would most likely cut him off at the end of the passage.<p>

"Those bastards!", he slammed his fist on the wall, smearing blood on it that had dripped down his arm. "They lied to me. They played me like a fool with their false promises, and now when things have gone bad, they just abandon me here to fend for myself." He saw the end of the hall in sight, but then noticed it was blocked by the dwarf Barin. He quickly took another path and that too was blocked with Pathil standing at the end. There was only one other path left, and when he tried to go down that one, he saw Maradil standing at the end. He cursed his luck as they closed in on him. He put his back against the wall and sunk down into a sitting position on the ground.

"You're cornered now Vanthar." Maradil said, they were now only a few feet away from him and all possible paths of escape were blocked. "Surrender peacefully and the king might show you mercy. You think that just because you know a little magic that you would be able conquer the kingdom? You didn't even come close." Vanthar just scowled at him and turned away. He buried his head in his knees as if to hide his shame from being defeated.

"What shall we do with him now?" asked Barin. "The day is won. With Vanthar captured, his forces are bound to surrender."

"Alright then, what next?" Maradil asked and turned towards the exit. "Is the king waiting outside?"

"Most likely." said Barin. He too turned towards the exit. "Hopefully there's still some fun to be." Unseen by both of them, Vanthar had gotten up and pulled out a dagger. He walked behind Maradil and raised it to strike. Then with great speed, Pathil fired an arrow from his bow straight into Vanthar's chest.

"Hmph, what a cowardly move." Pathil said. "You should have just stayed down and accepted your defeat. Vanthar fell back against the wall and his body slid down to the ground.

As he was dying, Vanthar began to laugh a little. "You think this is the end? Do you really think that this will end all of the fighting and conflict? Well think again. War will just break out once more over some petty little squabble and other kingdoms will attempt to conquer us again. If you think it's all over than you're dead wrong. This is only the beginning..." with that his eyes rolled back and he was dead.

"Don't look at me like that." Pathil said referring to the look of surprise on Maradil's face. "He had a dagger and was going to kill you. I did what was needed to stop him. It was either you or him."

"But was that really necessary? You could have warned me or something." said Maradil.

"Then what? Would you have had enough time to react and stop him? Even then, you still could have been killed. You fool, never turn your back to an enemy, even if they appear to be unarmed. Come on, lets got get Darzul and Jeredia, and regroup with the king.

* * *

><p>After the battle was over Maradil stood outside of the tent that had been put up in Kunrude Fortress for the king. Darzul was now awake, but resting on a blanket on the ground. Jeredia had mostly recovered and was sitting in a chair discussing things with the king. Maradil and Caron stood by and listened.<p>

"The five of you have done a great thing today. Now these lands can finally be at peace and as we speak, the hostages are being sent back to their homelands, so now they will not declare war on us, some of them we are even on good terms with now, dispite what Vanthar told you. He is known for his lies and tricks."

Maradil thought to himself, "But how much of it was lies?". The king had been merciful; when Vanthar's soldiers at the fortress had surrendered, nearly all of them were pardoned by the king. He even had Vanthar's body buried in a space they had found in the catacombs that ran beneath the hills outside of the fortress. Vanthar was buried along with his recovered robes, dagger, and the shattered remains of his staff; the king felt obliged to do it since they were once fellow political rivals.

Just then, Barin came limping towards the tent. He seemed injured; he had gone to help out in the battle as it had died down after they defeated Vanthar. "Maradil, I need help." he said. "Please help me, it hurts so much."

"What's wrong?" Maradil asked.

"I have an arrow in my ass!" he yelled. "I tried to dodge it during the battle and it got me on the side. The went closer and saw the arrow impaled into the side of his buttocks.

"Looks like we have to remove it." Maradil said. After many minutes of agony and Barin screaming in pain, they finally pulled out the arrow. They bandaged the injury up and used some medicine on it."Looks like the medicine Caron gave us came in handy after all."

"You probably will not be able to do much with that injury for a few days though." said Jeredia. "So be careful."

The king walked up to them. "I'm glad to know that the missing princess had nothing to do with this. I've already sent a message to her homeland to inform them of this. We never did find the adviser though. Where could he have gone?"

"Where did Pathil go?" asked Maradil, they had not seen him since the end of the battle.

"He told me there was somewhere he had to go." Jeredia said. "It seemed important."

"He left without even saying goodbye." said Barin. Then, a soldier appeared.

"You must come quick." he said. "A man matching the description of the adviser has been spotted in the area around the throne room."

"Lets hurry and check it out." said Maradil. They all quickly made their way back to Vanthar's throne room and found the adviser standing at the center of the room. "Where had you gone off to?" The adviser reached out his hand towards Maradil and he went towards the adviser.

"Wait, that's not the adviser I remember." the king said.

"Maradil no!" yelled Caron.

Just then, Maradil felt a nauseating sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. The atmosphere of the room seemed to have become heavier and darker. The adviser's skin seemed to start disintegrating and it slowly fell off of him like dust in the wind. Underneath was a skeletal creature wrapped in a cloak of what appeared to be a night-black shadow that moved like a flame. It had a hideously, frightening skull-like grin. Maradil immediately jumped back in fright. From the creature's back sprouted black protrusions that took the shape and form of wings. It then started to flap them and took flight into the air. It went upwards towards the ceiling and flew straight through the stained glass window at the top, shattering it into hundreds of pieces. Maradil was too frozen in fright to act, the whole moment seeming to move in slow motion for him.

When he had snapped out of it, he saw that Barin had jumped in front of him and had blocked the falling glass from hitting them with his shield. Barin then grunted in pain, his injury still hurting after having it bandaged. Maradil was shaking and did not seem anywhere near as calm as he was moments before. Caron went up to him and tried to help him calm down and get back to normal.

"What the hell was that thing!?" Barin said.

"I don't know." Caron replied.

* * *

><p>Long after the battle was over and everyone had left, Kunrude Fortress lay empty. In the room before the throne room, there was a pile of debris and stonework. Sticking out underneath it was an arm, covered by a gauntlet. It was motionless, and then its fingers moved. The whole arm then started to move and lifted itself up. It aimed itself toward the stone debris and began to bash at it. This continued until the stone began to crack. It broke into smaller pieces and continued smashing its way through. Then out from under the debris appeared another arm. Together the two arms began to clear away the stones and the pile started to rise. The debris on top fell off and out from underneath it crawled the creature that those arms were attached to. It was Othnorgur and he survived.<p>

He looked beat up and there was now a dent in his armor. "Well that hurt like a son of a bitch. That was quite a beating I took and now I'm going to have to do something about this dent in my armor." he said to himself. He began searching the room and collected his weapons, the chain and great axe he had used in his battle with Maradil, Darzul, and Barin.

"It looks like I'm the only one left here, escaping should be easy. You were a fool Vanthar. You thought I was nothing more than hired muscle, but in truth, my power exceeded even yours. In the time I had been serving you, I was only using a fraction of my true strength. I could have easily killed them and you as well if I wanted to. I had you dancing in the palm of my hand this whole time." He began walking out of the room and towards the exit of the fortress. When he made it outside, it was nighttime. "Now I must return to my true master, I have places to go, and things to do..."

* * *

><p>It was now a few days after the battle at Kunrude Fortress and the group had spent those days at the palace. The former prisoners were now safely back in their homelands and all was well. There had been much feasting and celebration to commemorate the victory.<p>

The king began to speak. "Today will be a new beginning for our kingdom. I will do my best to fix relations with the neighboring lands and try to form friendships with them instead of isolating ourselves even more. I now see why Vanthar did what he did and I have taken much of what he has said into consideration when thinking of how I will rule in the future. I was a weak-willed king and for too long I chose inaction and turned a blind eye to this land's true problems, but no more. A group of brave heroes has helped me see that and they are the real victors of this struggle." He gestured towards Maradil, Darzul, Barin, and Jeredia. Everyone in the dining hall began cheering for them.

"Do you hear that Darzul? Barin?" said Maradil. "That's something we'd never received back in Aradale. Respect, and Praise."

"I'd almost forgotten the words." said Barin.

The king continued, "I, King Rubedession III, now declare the four of you friends of our kingdom in the land of Kunrude. We will always remember you and sing song of your brave deeds for years to come. You will always be welcome here if you are ever passing through these lands."

The celebration continued on for a while and then Caron met with the group. "I think it's about time we started heading home now." he said.

"Yes, lets go home." Maradil said. They now had many gifts from the king to bring back home with them. By morning they were packed and ready to leave. At the city gates they waved goodbye to everyone and the five of them began walking in the direction of Bornodir, along with a small group of soldiers that had volunteered to escort them to the border.

When they were passing over the hills Maradil said to the others, "I wonder what they'll think of us now?"

"I'd like to see the looks on their faces when we come back with all of these gifts from the king." Barin said.

"But for some reason, I don't feel very victorious. I wonder what they will think of us on the inside? Will they really think of us as heroes?" Maradil said.

"What are you talking about?" said Caron. "You saved an entire kingdom, rescued the king, unraveled a political conspiracy, and prevented a war that could have cost many lives. That has to count for something. Who cares what they think."

"I guess you're right." Maradil said.

Caron, Maradil, Darzul, Barin, and Jeredia continued on through the countryside. Jeredia would have to return to his own land in the desert kingdom in the east, but he had become great friends with the group and had told that he would try to visit them in the future whenever he could.

"One thing though," Barin began to ask. "I wonder whatever happened to the king's real adviser. That thing back in Kunrude Fortress apparently wasn't him."

"Who knows," said Caron. "I doubt we will ever find out.

Passing over the top of a hill, Barin tripped and rolled all the way down, sliding into a ditch. Getting up, he saw something down there that immediately made him jump. It was a rotting corpse, crawling with maggots.

"I think we just found out the answer to that question." Caron said.

"With the way he's dressed, I'd say this is the king's adviser." Maradil said. "From the looks of it, his body was purposely hidden in this ditch. He's probably been dead in this hole for weeks, long before we even set foot in the land of Kunrude." The soldiers escorting them came to see what they had found and were shocked.

"I think it is about time you soldiers let us continue on our own." Caron said. "You should hurry back and report this to your king, I'm sure he'd like to know." The soldiers got to work picking up the body and wrapping it in a tarp. They then headed back towards the city. Now it was just the five of them.

"Let's hurry up getting back home." Barin said. "I'm ready to get out of these strange lands already."

"I defiantly agree with you on that." Maradil said, nodding his head in agreement.

"Likewise." Darzul said.

* * *

><p><strong>There it is, the conclusion to the first adventure of Maradil and his friends. What was originally supposed to be only three chapters has now turned into five. This adventure was a little more lightweight and was sort of an opening segment to the story. There was a little more humor throughout this one; with Barin around, something hilarious is always bound to happen. <strong>

**The next adventure starts off about three years later. In it, we will start to learn more about the quiet one of the group, Darzul, and his past. This chapter ended up pretty long compared to the previous ones so far, but there was a lot I had to fit into it and I had to take time to make sure I didn't forget anything. I'm not sure when I will start writing the second adventure. It might be soon, or it might not be until a long time later. It all depends if I feel like it or not at the moment and if I feel motivated enough. For now though, I think I'll take a little break. Your comments, suggestions, and reviews are welcome.**


	9. On the Road Again

** Now for the start of the second adventure of Maradil and his friends. It picks up a few years after their first adventure and in it, more of Darzul's past will start to be revealed. The first adventure may have been a bit more light-hearted, but this second adventure is a little darker than the previous adventure; just to give you a little heads up. But don't worry, its nothing too insane that the average person couldn't handle. Its mostly creepy, weird and psychological stuff and maybe some stylized violence and a little bit of blood in there too (but not a ridiculous amount of it, like guts and gore). Also, expect some character development in this adventure. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

* * *

><p><em>Three years later<em>

It was the inside of a dark and cavernous room that seemed to be a chamber of some sort. In the back of the room were two mysterious figures, one of them sat on a throne, both obscured by the darkness; the room seemed more like a burial chamber than a throne room. The one on the throne got up and walked over to a large chasm in the chamber, the bottom of which shone with an acid-green glow. Down below in the chasm, what sounded like the cries and screams of unnumbered souls could be heard. It raised its skeletal arm over the chasm and spoke.

"Rise my servants, ancient spirits of darkness from ages long past. I have a task for you." it said. Out of the chasm came two black streams of what seemed like shadows that oozed onto the ground. They began to take shape and slowly rose up from the ground, while they cried and writhed in agony as they were twisted and molded into two humanoid shapes. One of the figures took on a skeletal form to mimic the summoner, and the other figure took on a demonic form to mimic the summoner's partner.

"Good, that's it." said the summoner. "You know what your mission is; I don't even need to explain it to you. Go forth, find them and hunt them to the ends of the earth, make them suffer and wish they had never come into existence." The two creatures of shadow let out a horrifying shriek and with lightning speed they sped through the air like shades and were gone.

* * *

><p>There was a little boy out on a walk through the forest with his mother. The two of them smiled and happily ran together without a care in the world. The mother ran up ahead and the boy tried to catch up.<p>

"Wait for me mommy." the boy said. No matter how hard he tried, she seemed to get further and further away from him even though she had stopped and was not moving. "No, don't leave me!"

"Come to me Maradil." she said. "Don't you want to come home with me?" The boy finally reached her, and when he got there, she was silent. She did not seem to move.

"Mommy?" she was bleeding and fell over dead. The boy became frightened and began to cry. What would he do now? He did not know the way back home and his mother was dead. Then he heard a rustling in the trees. He quickly turned and out of the trees jumped a fell, skeletal creature that flew with black wings. It stared at him and laughed a terrible laugh.

"What are you?" said the boy, panicking and frightened.

"What are you?" the creature mimicked in its own evil voice.

The boy was now scared out of his mind and began to run away. He ran through the forest as fast as he could, but he always seemed to go in a circle and end up back where he started. The creature chased him and he took a different path, but he was lost and was desperately trying to find the way out. He ended up in an area that seemed familiar to him. He looked around and found that there where dead elves everywhere, many of them people he recognized; all killed in a similar manner as his mother was. The creature cornered him and slowly it lumbered towards his, reaching out with its clawed skeletal arms. As its hands got closer to his face, he could feel that the aura around them felt icy cold, as if death was approaching. Then, everything went black.

* * *

><p>Maradil awoke with a sudden fright and shot up in his bed. He then realized that it had only been a dream and felt a great relief; he had not had a nightmare this bad in a long time. Alone in his dark room, everything came back to him as he was brought back to the present. Then a fond memory flashed within his head as he tried to get his mind off of the nightmare he had just had; the worst ones were always the hardest to forget. He remembered that back when he was a child, whenever he had a nightmare he would go and cuddle up in bed beside his adoptive mother Awenrith. That always made him feel better, but now she was gone and Maradil was all grown up, and alone.<p>

Maradil put his face in his hands. "Why did you leave? Where did you go?" he said to himself, lamenting the loss his adoptive mother and father, and grieving for the death of his older brother and almost every other immediate relative he had. "Everyone's dead or gone. Everyone. Everyone except for her..." He still had one relative left that he was close to.

It was still a few hours before morning, but all sleep had left him. Maradil got up out of bed and decided to try and find something to do to occupy himself. After several hours of aimlessly wandering around and doing whatever things popped into his head, Darzul and Barin had finally woken up. They sat down for breakfast in the dining hall and began to eat.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep." said Darzul.

"I had bad dreams." Maradil said. "I haven't had one that bad in a long time."

"You too?" said Darzul. "Mine were sort of bad as well. What were yours about?"

"Just remembering my family members that aren't here in this world anymore." Maradil answered.

"I was dreaming about the time when I last saw my father." Darzul said. "It was on the day we fled when our village came under attack by some of the Terak-hai orcs."

"It's a good thing I don't really get nightmares." said Barin, who joined in. "Dwarves aren't really effected by things like that."

"Speaking of the Terak-hai," said a voice at the doorway. "Have you heard the news?" It was Jeredia, who sat down and joined them. "Recently, some of the hordes of terak-kai and other orcs have been making raids throughout Kunrude."

"What does it matter?" Maradil said. "I'm sure that the forces of the king are more than capable of fighting them off. The orcs will soon get the message that they aren't welcome and leave."

"But that's the thing." Jeredia continued. "Why the sudden interest in raiding Kunrude? Isn't that a little far from the lands that they usually target? What could cause them to suddenly start doing that? Did their usual raiding areas go dry and they had to find someplace else, or is there something more."

"They're orcs," said Maradil. "Who knows what they're thinking."

"I guess maybe I'm just a little paranoid." Jeredia said. The four of them finished eating and went off to find something to entertain themselves. Over the past three years since their adventure in Kunrude, Jeredia had periodically visited them, and had even gone with them on a few minor adventures they had undertaken, though nothing particularly of note. Maradil and his friends had not really done anything big in a long time; things were starting to get boring again in Aradale.

While in the courtyard, Maradil got to thinking, it was time for a change of pace; they needed something to get their minds off of the bad dreams and days of idleness. "Hey guys," he said to Darzul and Jeredia who were nearby. "I've been thinking, since things have been a bit slow around here lately, that we should go on a little expedition. You know what I mean..., an adventure." He had caught their attention and they turned towards him.

"Did someone say adventure!?" Barin suddenly appeared out of the bushes right next to Maradil, who immediately jumped.

"Dammit Barin don't do that!" Maradil shouted. "My heart jumped up to my mouth. What were you even doing in there?"

"Sorry" Barin said. "I was just looking for those things I'd put somewhere in the garden."

Jeredia watched them and thought to himself: "Even though the three of them are grown adults, they still have the minds of children and act very much like them too sometimes."

"I'm all for it." Darzul said.

"I haven't really had much to do recently." Jeredia said, "So I guess I'll tag along with you too."

"So, what will it be this time?" Darzul asked.

"I'm not sure." Maradil said. "Maybe this time you should decide Darzul. Oh wait, I know, what if we traveled southward to visit your homeland in Uracania? Maybe we could even visit the village where you're from, or what's left of it."

"I don't know Maradil," Darzul said. "Going there could bring back a lot of bad memories for me."

"Maybe this is just what you need." Maradil said. "A journey back to your roots. If you've been having bad dreams about you're past, maybe going back will give you some closure so then you can move on."

Darzul thought for a moment, "Now that you put it that way," he said, "The suggestion sounds pretty appealing. Still, it could be dangerous."

"That's never stopped us before." Maradil said.

"I'd say go for it." Barin said. "Maybe afterwards we can head towards the east, some of the lands there are pretty interesting."

"That sounds fun," said Jeredia. "On the way back, we could maybe take a different route while circling back and pass through the desert-lands where the kingdom I'm from is."

"Then what are we waiting for?" said Maradil. "Let's get started."

* * *

><p>A few days passed by and the four of them were ready to leave. They had packed just about everything they thought they would possibly need; for them, it always turned out to be a good idea to over-prepare. Caron was with them and was seeing them off. He handed them a map and a box of medical supplies he'd put together, very similar to the ones he had handed them before they had set out on their adventure to Kunrude a few years before.<p>

"This map should be able to help you find your way around." Caron said. "Many of the lands in the southeast are not fully explored and it can be easy for one to get lost there."

"Thanks, we didn't really have a good map for the places where we're going anyway." said Maradil.

"Also, stay out of trouble and don't do anything stupid." said Caron. "But you probably will anyway and I'll have to come and save you."

"Here's something I've noticed," said Maradil, "How is it that you always seem to arrive exactly when and where we need you the most and you always save us when we're in the gravest danger?"

"An old friend of mine once said, " answered Caron, "A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."

"Why does that sound familiar?" Maradil said.

"Well, I must be going." Caron said. "I have business to attend to. Take care of yourselves and good luck." With that he disappeared out of sight and back into the enclave.

Also at the gate was Sarwen, who had seen them off on their first adventure. She was one of the few people in the enclave that was a dear friend of the group, and she had also taken a liking to Maradil. She had a small crush on him, but it was doubtful that Maradil would ever notice. He always ignored things like that and chose not to concern himself with them. Maradil saw her as just a friend. It just wasn't in him to find someone and settle down; his itinerant nature was one of his biggest flaws.

They said their goodbyes to her and left. Maradil and his friends then turned towards the gates and headed out onto the path. They began walking the path towards the woods to the south. Passing by a hill with a stone marker, Maradil stopped.

"What's wrong?" Darzul asked.

"You see that stone marker on the top of that hill? It's a grave. My real parents are buried there. They died from a plague shortly after I was born. Ever since then, I was raised by my adoptive mother Awenrith, and then my adoptive father Auril."

"I remember them." said Darzul. "We were both very young at the time. Awenrith was really sweet and caring, and Auril was very strong-willed and cunning. Where did they disappear to?"

"I don't know." said Maradil. "I'm still wondering to this day." He looked towards Barin, who seemed as though he had no idea what they were talking about. "I don't think I've really told you much about them, this was before we had met you Barin."

"I would have very much liked to have met them, the people who made you the way you are now." Barin said.

Maradil picked some flowers from the hillside and set them in front of the grave marker. Even though he had never met his real parents and had no idea what they even looked like, he would still from time to time come and set flowers at their grave. He read the names on the grave: Myrwin, that was his mother, and Dorthir, his father. Apparently, Caron had known his parents before he was born and had told him some things about them. He had given Maradil a vague description of what they were like and how they looked, and from that he formed a mental image of them and what they looked like.

"Alright," said Maradil. "Lets continue. Leaving from the south part of Bornodir and coming out of the forest, we will end up at a large swamp area known as Jarak Swamp. It may take us a few days to get through, but we should know our way around for that part of the journey. We've traveled through the swamp before.

"Alright, lets get this adventure started." said Barin. The four of them began walking and with that, their second great adventure had begun.

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><p><strong>Maradil and his friends have now started on their second adventure. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to stay motivated to write more of the story before I lose interest for a while. The next few chapters might be released a little slower than the ones for the first adventure. But, in the next chapter, the group will gain a new member, who will join them on their adventure.<strong>


	10. Chance Encounters

** Maradil and his friends have set off on their second great adventure, and are now heading towards Darzul's homeland of Uracania, but first they must make their make through the Jarak Swamp. I DO NOT OWN THE LORD OF THE RINGS.**

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><p>The group had now reached the beginning of what was the large swamp to the south of Bornodir and had begun to cross the fords leading into it. The smell of muck and decay was everywhere and a twisted mesh of vines and briers covered the tops of many of the bare trees. They chose the best path and headed down it; the ground was very soft and mushy along the way and the trees seemed to formed a dense canopy above their heads that let in very little light, making it feel almost like nighttime.<p>

'Alright," said Maradil, "If we keep going this way, we should be able to reach the northern part of Uracania in about two days if we don't waste any time."

"Once we are out of here, we should find a place to stay. The swamp is not really a good place to set up a camp." Darzul added.

"We should just keep moving, I don't want to stay here for too long." Maradil said

Later, when night came, they tried as best as they could to set up a camp. As it turned out, Darzul was right and there really wasn't a good spot to set up the camp; the night was long and unpleasant. Throughout it, Maradil could hear the calls of many animals and the chirps of unnumbered incests, as well as the terrible smell, much to his dismay, some of which he was certian was Barin, who had eaten a meal of beans before they had left; though if he mentioned it to him, Barin would just say that the smell was from the swamp.

Waking up the next morning after getting very little sleep, they got their things together and left. Along the way, Maradil felt an uneasy feeling at the back of his mind as if something just wasn't quite right. He told Darzul, and he too shared his uneasy feeling.

"I don't know why," Darzul whispered to Maradil, "But I just can't help the feeling that we are being watched, it was the same all throughout the night too."

"I know what you mean." Maradil whispered back. "It's like there's always something just in the corner of my eye, but everytime I try to turn around and see what it is, it just disappears. To me, it almost looks like two figures, though I can't make out anything else about them; they're always in the shadows."

"Lets forget about it for now. Being hunted and followed by unknown forces is the last thing we need on our troubled minds right now." said Darzul.

Continuing throughout the day, they came across many curious objects and trinkets littered throughout the swamp and in the muck, though most of them were useless. Most likely, they were lost or discarded items from travelers that had passed through the swamp before them. They also came across many moss-covered skeletons scattered in various places, reminding them of some of the many dangers of traveling unprepared.

They decided not to spend another night in the swamp and continued along until they were finally at the swamp's edge. Coming out, they could see a town in the distance.

"There," said Maradil pointing towards the town and then looking at the map. "So far we're going the right way. We should now be in the northern part of Uracania. That town over there looks like a good place to get some rest and stock up on supplies."

"It's about time." said Barin. "I'm tired and hungry." The four headed towards the town and soon they reached the gates.

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><p>Upon entering the small town, they found the atmosphere to be quite friendly and inviting. The first thing on their mind was food, and so they headed towards the marketplace to buy some. The marketplace was very large, it being a place where merchants from many lands came to sell their goods. They bought food and supplies for their journey and then ate a meal they had gotten from one of the food stands.<p>

"We're making good progress." said Darzul. "Now we just need to find a place to stay for the night and then we could set out again tomorrow morning or the morning after."

Good, everything is going smoothly." said Maradil. "No misadventures so far, as is usually the case with most of our other adventures." Then suddenly, Maradil felt something around his waist. He looked down and saw two arms, he was being hugged from behind and then tackled to the ground.

"Is it really you Maradil?" a voice said from behind him. "It's been so long, I've missed you so much."

"Oh hello, is that you Maranel?" Maradil said, getting up from the ground. Also getting up from the ground was a woman who had long black hair that went all the way down her back, the very end of which she kept tied with a ribbon "It has been a while." Barin and Jeredia looked at Maradil baffled. "Oh, I don't think you've met her before, this is my cousin Maranel. I know Darzul has met her before a few times when he was younger, but not you two."

"Oh, so this is the cousin that you've talked so much about." Barin said. "I've only heard about her from you, but I've never actually seen her in person."

"When I saw Darzul with you, I knew it had to be you, even though I couldn't see your face because you were facing the other way." Maranel said.

She seemed very similar to Maradil and they both behaved in similar ways as well. Ever since they were children, Maradil and Maranel had grown up together and were very close. Maranel had also lost her parents at an early age. When she was a little girl, her father had been killed by orcs, and her mother had been killed by the same plague that had killed Maradil's mother, who was her mother's sister. Maranel was one of the few living relatives that Maradil had left, and the only one that he was close to. Even though she was about the same age as him, she had become somewhat of an older sister to Maradil and was sometimes fiercely overprotective of him.

The both of them had a great love for adventure and often played together as children. When they had grown older, they had sometimes gone on adventures together and had developed similar personalities. Among the elves of Aradale, she was considered somewhat of a tomboy since she did not have much of an interest in lady-like things and preferred to adventure and explore instead, just like Maradil. The reason that Darzul had only seen her a few times and Barin had only heard of her was because she lived in a different part of Bornodir and as they got older, she became busier and was not able to come and visit Maradil as often anymore. She sometimes went on adventures on her own and would often write to Maradil about them.

Maradil then turned to the others. "For some reason, many people say that we look very similar." Maradil said.

"But we look nothing alike." Maranel added.

With the two of them standing next to each other, it was obvious that they looked alike and were related. They had the same green eyes, same black hair color, same hair line, dressed in almost the same way, and even their names sounded similar. With all of these, they could defiantly pass as siblings, maybe even twins. Barin looked as though he was barely able to contain his laughter, and then he let it out.

"What's so funny?" asked Maradil.

"Nevermind," said Barin. "Lets get back to what we were doing."

"I guess it's luck meeting you here. What were you doing here anyway Maranel?" Maradil asked.

"I was actually on my way to go see you." Maranel said. "I was wondering if we could do something fun together, and that maybe Darzul and your other friends could join too. It looks like you've already started."

"It's not too late." Maradil said. "Maybe you can join us now if you want to." Her mood seemed to lift.

"Really?" she said.

"Yes" Maradil answered.

She looked as though she became very excited. "Where are we going to?" she asked.

"To visit the village where I had come from as a child." Darzul said. "It was ravaged by Terak-hai orcs and not much is left of it except for ruins."

"Oh, I almost forgot, I was here with a friend. I should probably tell her where I'm going." Maranel said. "Let me introduce you to her." Out from around the corner stepped a familiar woman and Maradil was immediately surprised. It was the huntress Sylvia, who he had met before in Kunrude and had sometimes talked to whenever she visited Aradale in the three years between then and now.

"Well this is a surprise." Sylvia said. "Hello there Maradil."

"It's you." Maradil said. "This is just pure coincidence."

"So you two already know each other?" Maranel asked. "This should make things easier."

"We've met before a few times and talked." Maradil said.

"So Maranel, this is the cousin that you've talked so much about." said Sylvia.

"We are on another adventure." Maradil said. "Now Maranel wants to join in on it."

"Sounds like fun." she said. "I might have wanted to go with Maranel to Aradale, but it seems she doesn't have to go there anymore. I actually have to be going now. I have something important that I need to be doing and someplace that I need to be."

"Well, bye." said Maranel, "Take care." With that she turned and began to leave. Maradil could see that on her back she carried her pet fox Burt, who was asleep.

After she was gone Maradil whispered to Maranel,"You know, I don't think she's from around here. Where exactly is she from?"

"I think she's told me before that she's from the lands to the north." Maranel said. "There are elves living up there in the forests and mountains, though I'm not exactly sure if she is one of them or not."

"Something seems a little shady about her. It's like she always makes sure not to stay in one place for too long and tries very hard not to be noticed." Maradil said

"She can be really mysterious sometimes. It feels like she keeps secrets even from me." said Maranel.

"Now, moving on." Maradil said, turning towards the group and addressing them. "We needed to find a place to stay. Maranel, do you know anywhere that we could go to for the night?"

"Actually, there's an inn that I had been staying at for the past few nights." she said. "I think they have a few more rooms available." She led them down the road until they reached an inn that appeared to be in good condition and looked to be well maintained.

"Oh good." said Maradil. "It's an actual inn and not a tavern."

"What's the difference?" asked Maranel.

"I've had some bad experiences with taverns in the past." he said.

"Like what" she asked.

"Don't worry about it. It would take too long to explain." he said.

"Bearded Ladies" Barin whispered, smirking and quietly laughing underneath his breath.

"Barin, shut up." said Maradil, who did not want to be reminded of the experience back at the Dancing Dragon in Nasatra.

Upon entering, they noticed that the interior was just as nice as the outside. They could smell the aroma of various meats covered spices being roasted over the fires and could hear the minstrels playing their music near the back of the room. They talked to the innkeeper and got themselves rooms for the night. Maranel already had her own room and the rest of the group was split up into two different rooms, with Maradil and Darzul in one, and Barin and Jeredia in the other.

The group then decided to lounge around for a bit and eventually nighttime came. They bought a few ales and ordered some dinner, and after about an hour were almost ready to go to bed. But then, a man stepped up onto the mistrals stage and spoke up.

"You asked for them, and so here they are tonight to perform for you. I give you, The Bearded Ladies!"Maradil immediately sprayed ale out of his mouth and almost choked. "You've got to be kidding me!" he said while coughing.

Barin burst out laughing. "I wasn't kidding when I said Bearded Ladies." he said. "I saw them going in through the backdoor when we were outside, but when I tried to tell you, you just thought I was joking."

"Seems I jinx everything whenever I open my mouth." said Maradil. After about a few minutes of listening to them play, he got up out of his chair. "Well, I'm going to bed now, I'm tired."

"Alright Maradil, goodnight." Maranel said to him.

"Goodnight Maranel." he said back to her. Shortly after him though, one by one they all followed and went up to their rooms as well.

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><p><strong>Maradil and his group have now gained a new member, his cousin Maranel. In the following morning, they will prepare and set out for the village of Darzul's birth. <strong>

**It seems I feel a little bit motivated to write some more chapters of the story for now, but I'm really not sure how the progress of the next chapters will go.**


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